USPTO Gets Confused by Apple's CarPlay Trademark Filing
Although it's Nov 19, the US Patent and Trademark Office just published a document sent to Apple dated Sept 26, 2014 that basically states that Apple may be out of luck for CarPlay, a trademark noted as being filed in early August. According to the letter, Carplay Enterprises had already filed for the trademark a year earlier with the mark relating to computers in cars. Is it lottery time for Carplay Enterprises or will Apple dream up a new trademark? Well, it's actually a weird case in that USPTO missed a small clue that was kind of important.
According to an Advisory letter sent to Apple by the US Patent and Trademark Office, "The filing date of pending U.S. Application Serial No. 86124275 precedes applicant's filing date. See attached referenced application. If the mark in the referenced application registers, applicant's mark may be refused registration under Trademark Act Section 2(d) because of a likelihood of confusion between the two marks."
The notice was sent to Apple's correspondent noted above as Irene K. Chong. The one clue that the US Patent Office missed is that Apple's legal correspondent noted as Irene K. Chong for Apple Inc. is also the very same legal correspondent for CarPlay Enterprises as noted in the graphic below. So I guess that Apple's CarPlay is likely to get registered by USPTO unless of course the two Irene k. Chong's don't get along.
Patently Apple presents a basic summary of new trademark filings with their associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each such trademark is revealed by the U.S. and/or other foreign Patent & Trademark Offices. This category covers a few Industrial Design reports each year while others could be found in our granted patent archives. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any trademark application should be read in its entirety for further details. About Comments: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit comments.
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