Dive Brief:
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In a letter published July 13, the United States Patent and Trademark Office refused Apple’s trademark application for its “Touch ID,” because Kronos Inc.’s trademarked “Kronos Touch ID” is too similar and could be confused.
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The USPTO considers similarity of marks, the goods and/or services themselves, the possibility of confusion, and trade channels, among other factors, when making their decisions.
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Apple did win European Union trademark protection for its store layouts. The company had tried to extend last year’s U.S. protections of its store layout globally, but had to go to court after it met resistance by German authorities.
Dive Insight:
Once Apple secured trademark protection in the U.S. for its store layout design, obtaining similar protection in the European Union seemed to be smooth sailing. That's until it met resistance from Germany, which said store design couldn’t be considered a trademark in and of itself. The EU ruling trumps that one.
Meanwhile, though, Apple can’t trademark its “Touch ID” in the U.S. Despite early issues with this major feature of its iPhone 5, Touch ID will likely be an increasingly important design element of Apple’s future phones.
