Tag: ipad

Categories
Disputes News Technology WIPO

iPad3.com domain quickly turned over to Apple’s IP lawyers following complaint

iPad3

iPad3

The domain iPad3.com is now in the hands of Apple’s IP lawyers at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton.  It appears the previous name’s owner didn’t even want to wait for an arbitration panel to issue the inevitable decision, and has instead decided to quickly transfer the domain following a complaint that was filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) at the end of June.

In the last 24 hours, the Whois record for iPad3.com was updated to reflect the change in ownership from Global Access to Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, a law firm that has represented the company in several patent and trademark infringement cases.

Given the speed of the domain transfer from the time the dispute was filed until now, it’s safe to assume a WIPO panel hadn’t even issued a ruling for Case Number D2012-1319, as the entire process can takes weeks and months.  The case will end up being terminated, just as the cases for iPhone5.com and UsedMacs.com were terminated.

Ultimately, the next step is for the name to be transferred from Apple’s lawyers to Apple, as it was likely bleeding traffic when people typed www.ipad3.com into their web browser looking for “The new iPad” only to find themselves on a parked page filled with links.

Chances are Apple will not change a thing when it comes to marketing “The new iPad” and will simply forward the name to its iPad page on Apple.com.

At the time of this story, iPad3.com still redirects to a variety of different parking services with Above.com.

[UPDATE 3 July 12:. Apple has begun forwarding iPad3.com to its web site. DNW reports Apple is tracking the traffic it gets from this domain using a tracking code.]

[UPDATE 2 July 6:. Case Number D2012-1319 has now been terminated at WIPO.]

[UPDATE 1 July 5:. iPad3.com has been transferred from Above.com’s name servers to Apple’s name servers.]

Talking about this story:  Techmeme, The Next Web, CNET, PC Magazine, GameZone, Macworld UK, Australian Macworld, SlashGear, GMA News, MacRumors, Network World, iDownloadblog.com, ITProPortal, Marketing Land, WebProNews, mediabistro.com, 36kr.com, maclife.de, iJailbreak.com, Memeburn and ZDNet

(Image of the new iPad via Apple.com)

Categories
Disputes News Trademarks WIPO

UberMedia has change of heart on twitteripad.com

Twitter for iPad

Last week I wrote about how UberMedia registered the domain name twitteripad.com, despite the company’s sometimes rocky relationship with Twitter.

In February, UberTwitter, Twidroyd, and UberCurrent were temporarily suspended by Twitter.  The UberMedia apps were shut off for terms of service violations, one of which included trademark infringement over the name UberTwitter.  UberMedia quickly changed the name of UberTwitter to UberSocial in response to Twitter’s requests.

This week, it’s a different story.  To avoid possible Twitter troubles, it appears UberMedia has had a change of heart on the domain twitteripad.com.  The same day the story ran on May 21, the domain name was deleted at GoDaddy and became available again.  GoDaddy didn’t hold the name or send it to auction, instead it released it.

Chances are, it won’t be long before it gets registered again.  But maybe not.  Twitteripad.com has trouble written all over it since it could be considered a trademark infringing domain name on not one but two widely used products, Twitter and Apple’s iPad.

In mid February Twitter got the domain twittersearch.com after filing a dispute at WIPO in December 2010.  The dispute wasn’t decided by WIPO, instead the name was apparently turned over to Twitter without having to wait for a panel decision.

Categories
News Trademarks

Despite shaky relationship with Twitter, UberMedia buys the domain name Twitteripad.com

ubermedia

Despite having its apps suspended earlier this year by Twitter for violating the company’s policies, one of which included trademark infringement, that hasn’t stopped UberMedia from purchasing the domain name Twitteripad.com. 

The company which is owned by IdeaLab and was previously called UberTwitter, registered the domain name earlier this week on May 18 according to registrant records.

Registrant:
   UberMedia
   130 W. Union Street
   Pasadena, California 91103
   United States

   Domain Name: TWITTERIPAD.COM
      Created on: 18-May-11
      Expires on: 18-May-12
      Last Updated on: 18-May-11

Twitteripad.com could be considered a trademark infringing domain name on not one but two widely used products, Twitter and Apple’s iPad. 

Given IdeaLab’s affinity for domain names and its shaky trackrecord with Twitter, the registration is surprising, but then UberMedia has had its share of scandal and news in 2011.

After the shutdown of its popular apps in February, the company recently lost to Twitter in its bid for TweetDeck. 

Rumors have surfaced that UberMedia may have plans to launch a competitor site to Twitter that addresses many of the problems users complain about.

As of right now, the domain name twitteripad.com doesn’t resolve.

Categories
News WIPO

Research In Motion files complaint with WIPO over BlackberryTablet.com

Blackberry Tablet

Research In Motion (RIM) filed a complaint this week with WIPO over BlackberryTablet.com, ahead of the company’s launch of its own tablet in early 2011.

Although Research In Motion has named its tablet, Playbook, the company is going after the owner of BlackberryTablet.com who first registered the domain name nearly 1 year ago on January 24, 2010. 

Ever since Apple introduced the iPad, tablets have been in demand, but this is the first such case filed with WIPO over a tablet domain name, but it likely won’t be the last.  According to the reports from CES 2011, over 80 tablet launches will be taking place in 2011. 

Research In Motion isn’t the only company missing its name

A quick glance at some of the bigger names launching tablets, shows that Research In Motion isn’t the only company who doesn’t own their name + tablet.  Only a handful of companies appear to have registered their name in time.  Not even the mighty Apple which leads the tablet market with its iPad owns Appletablet.com.  The domain name was first registered back in 2006 and serves as an online resource guide for Apple products.  Apple doesn’t own iPad.com either.

Motorola which is launching the Xoom in the first quarter of 2011 doesn’t own MotorolaTablet.com.   The owner has the name up for sale.

Toshiba missed registering its domain name.  Toshibatablet.com was registered in February 2010 to an Adam Feber who currently has the domain parked at GoDaddy.

Dell, so far, might be the only exception in the lot.  The company does own Delltablet.com and it redirects the domain to its homepage on Dell.com.  The company which launched its own tablet called “Streak” in 2010, also owns DellStreak.com.  And if Dell pays attention to the domain aftermarket, it has a chance of getting the generic domain streak.com, which has been put up for sale with a reserve price range of 10,000 – 24,999 EUR in the upcoming GreatDomains auction starting January 20th.

Samsungtablet.com, Panasonictablet.com – neither name is owned by the company and you’ll be hard pressed to find very many manufacturers that own their company name + tablet.

Research In Motion and WIPO

Research In Motion has filed dozens of complaints over the years with WIPO over domain names and it has had success in having a large portion of the names transferred.  Cases the company have won include RIM.com, researchinmotion.com, blackberryworld.com, blackberryguru.com, and dozens of other cases.

Currently, Research In Motion has other cases active with WIPO where a decision has not been made, including blackberrybing.com and blackberrybridge.com.

As the tablet market heats up, companies will be suiting up to duke it out with owners of domain names.

But there’s one domain owner who won’t have to worry about a battle – he’ll just have to worry whether to turn down huge offers or to develop the domain name into the top online tablet destination – Aron Meystedt of XF Investments who owns Tablets.com.    As I first reported in the beginning of November 2010, Aron who also owns the first .com domain ever registered (symbolics.com), acquired Tablets.com for an undisclosed amount.

If you’re actually curious about the Blackberry Playbook which is expected to be forthcoming in Q1 of 2011, here’s a preview of its features.