Apple recently lost its lawsuit against Wholesale Central’s trademark application “DOPi” in Australia. Apple marks its products with the small letter “i” at the beginning (iPOD, iBOOK) and keeps an eye on possible trademark infringements of other companies using a small “i” with their trademarks. The wholesaler just turned the word iPOD around and applied for trademark registration in Australia. According to Wholesale Central “DOPi” stands for “Digital Options and Personalised Items”. The court having jurisdiction dismissed the case. There was no risk of confusion between the two marks and Apple was not able to prove that the public would believe that the products are Apple products just because of the small “i”. Apple cannot claim a monopoly on the letter “i” and also the two opposing device marks “Apple” and “DOPi” do not have  similar appearance at all. (see macnotes.de v. 16.03.2010)

Apple vs. DOPi

Apple recently lost its lawsuit against Wholesale Central’s trademark application “DOPi” in Australia. Apple marks its products with the small letter “i” at the beginning (iPOD, iBOOK) and keeps an eye on possible trademark infringements of other companies using a small “i” with their trademarks. The wholesaler just turned the word iPOD around and applied for trademark registration in Australia. According to Wholesale Central “DOPi” stands for “Digital Options and Personalised Items”. The court having jurisdiction dismissed the case. There was no risk of confusion between the two marks and Apple was not able to prove that the public would believe that the products are Apple products just because of the small “i”. Apple cannot claim a monopoly on the letter “i” and also the two opposing device marks “Apple” and “DOPi” do not have  similar appearance at all. (see macnotes.de v. 16.03.2010)

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