charlituna

jkichline said:

I’m not a lawyer, but if I’m following this correctly...

Apple purchases the rights to existing but abandoned trademarks using a subsidiary which Apple always does to avoid rumors and paying way too much for these things.

So when Apple found out that there was another trademark that was filed, they attempted to buy it, but the company foolishly said no instead of entertaining the request. Apple didn’t have to buy it since they already had the trademark, but they tried.

So a foolish company that used a term that doesn’t provide marketing value could have sold it to Apple but instead got outclassed by a company steeped in copyright law and is now grasping for scraps.

my understanding of what the article is saying is a tad different. my read is that this android developer found out that the trademark was about to expire and was going to make a play for it. probably figured they could get it cheap because it hadn't been used for a while and was all but abandoned. there might even be a mechanism in the trademark processes to apply for an existing but about to expire trademark before the expiration. if the current owner doesn't re-up then the new application is processed before anyone should have found out it's available. but before it was fully expired, Apple via this shell company, bought the rights from the legit owners. and probably legitimized the purchase by filling some kind of use documentation. so now Mr Android App is screwed. 

as for using subsidiaries and shells, Apple does that as much to keep their plans a secret as to avoid being taken for a ride on value so I'm not shocked about that move. in fact I think Apple may have been screwed over by Cisco over the iPhone trademark in part because they didn't use a fake name. course that one didn't work out so well for Cisco since the Trademark Office etc agreed that they jumped in at the last minute with a claim they were about to use the trademark again just to keep it away from Apple. In the end they were allowed use the mark for the office phone or whatever it was they claimed they were about to create and Apple got cell phone use of the name (sort of like Apple getting Apple for computers etc but they couldn't start a record company cause Apple Records)

I imagine that they are looking for this kind of clearance for as many countries as possible

maestro64 said:

Or it could for the self driving cars, stop reading too much into this.

this is a company that makes lenses no reason a self driving car would need that. AR HUD for smart car maybe

Soli said:

I have no idea how effective this market will be after Google tainted the wearable eyewear market and other AR glasses seem to limited in scope to gaming that I don't think it's a market large enough for Apple to be interested, but I hope they work it out. Additionally, I hope their product can put a major hurt on the Luxottica monopoly.

its all going to depend on what apple comes up with. many people have been hoping for something that looks like a pair of glasses, perhaps with heat changing tint so they can be worn indoors and out, sound in the ear pieces, non recording cameras and images being projected onto the lenses using forced perspective. if Apple created that then it might sell quite well. even as an add on to the iPhone and/or Apple Watch

jimh2 said:

The reality is the FD uses these phones for non-work related email, surfing and other non-essential activities, probably including porn. Were Verizon to publish a list of all the sites accessed by the FD we would find out where all of their data went. 

Do a little research. It was not about phone or phones but a communication truck used only for actual emergencies