The word “Multitouch” cannot be registered by Apple as a trademark: the decision comes from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has ruled: Apple will not be able to exclusively use the term “multitouch“. Some time ago, the Cupertino company submitted a request to register “multitouch” as a trademark, considering it a technology that, in Apple‘s opinion, has been largely integrated into the vocabulary and usage habits of everyone, precisely due to the widespread adoption of iPhone first and then iPad.
Based on this conviction, Apple requested the registration of the term as if it were its exclusive property. If the application had been approved, the repercussions for the entire high-tech sector would have been significant. However, this scenario was stopped in its tracks because the Patent Office deemed the term “multitouch” too generic to be registered and therefore to belong exclusively to a single company.
In fact, Multitouch signifies both a technical attribute that many devices possess and the tactile and operational result of an action that the user performs to best utilize a device’s screen.
At this point, there is much anticipation for another application submitted by Apple to the Trademark and Patent Office: the one related to the registration of the expression “App Store“.
In this case too, Apple would like to assert its primacy, but one of the objections already raised pertains precisely to the generic nature of the phrase: all are “apps”, not just those useful for Apple devices. At the same time, “store” is a universal term, certainly not exclusively related to something connected with the Cupertino company.
In this case as well, the relevant office will have to deliver its verdict.
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