USPTO Withdraws Refusals to Apple's 'iPad Mini' Trademark Filing
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Posted April 8, 2013 at 2:37pm by iClarified
After its questionable decision to reject Apple's 'iPad mini' trademark filing, the USPTO has withdrawn its refusals asking only that the company attach a disclaimer on the word 'mini'.
This Office action supersedes any previous Office action issued in connection with this application. Upon further review of the application, the examining attorney has determined that the following refusals issued in the initial Office action should be withdrawn. The examining attorney apologizes for any inconvenience caused.
REFUSALS WITHDRAWN: The Trademark Act Section 2(e)(1) descriptiveness refusal and the Sections 1 and 45 specimen refusal are both withdrawn.
Apple is asked to submit a disclaimer that reads, 'No claim is made to the exclusive right to use "MINI" apart from the mark as shown.' This is standard request for common words in trademark filings.
I never understood why the trademark was refused in the first place. Surely if Apple can have "iPad" they can have "iPad Mini" as we'll.
But on the other hand, why did they ever need it. Surely "iPad Mini" is automatically covered by the "iPad" trademark. It's not like another company could go and bring out an "iPad Maxi" because APple hasn't trademarked that specific term.
Apple would have won the appeal anyway, the grounds on which it was initially rejected we're weak. They clearly show huge sales and advertising history with all 'pad' product names.