Apple Files Find My Friend & FaceTime Trademarks in US & China
On November 7, 2011, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark application relating to the "Find My Friends" icon (Jumbo) under application 85462987. Apple filed their trademark under a single International Class which covers software that geographically locates and tracks people using global positioning systems. It also covers software relating to social networking. Apple's "Find My Friend" is a new iCloud Service that was introduced in October of this year. Apple has also filed a new trademark filing in China covering Find My Friends. Update: Our report also covers Google's whiney patent lawyer.
Apple's US Trademark Application In-Part
Apple's Trademark Design for "Find My Friends"
Apple's first filing for the Find My Friends Icon was made in Canada on October 25, 2011. Additionally, Apple filed the icons for trademark in China late on Friday under application 302075625. They're noted below as (A) for color and (B) for Black and White. The Jumbo Icon was filed in the US.
Apple Trademark: International Class Details
International Class 009: Computer software for use in geographically locating and tracking people using persons via global positioning systems or other location technology and sharing a user's geographic location; Computer software for use in social networking.
What is Find My Friends?
For those unaware of what the new iOS 5 "Find My Friends" service is, it's a new free app available from the App Store that lets you easily share your location with people who are important to you. Friends and family appear on a map so you can quickly see where they are. Find My Friends also lets you temporarily share your location with a group of friends, whether it's for a couple of hours for a dinner or a couple of days on a camping trip; when the time is up, the sharing ends. With Find My Friends, you get a notification every time you get a new friend request and if you give them permission, they can see your location. With a simple tap you can hide your location. Parental controls help you manage how your child uses Find My Friends.
Apple asserts a claim of priority based on Jamaican application number 58064 filed in May 2011.
Update: We have removed the references and images relating to FaceTime in this report, as we had covered this on Oct. 31, 2011.
Notice: 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.
Humor for the Day: Google's patent lawyer is once again whining about the patent system that isn't favoring Android smartphone OEM's. Apple had to fight Microsoft for years and tech patents have been protecting companies' innovations and inventions for decades in Silicon Valley to the dismay of those on the losing side. But Google thinks that they could skate away trouble free because they don't think the US patent system is fair. To them, if it's hassling their Android OEM's, then the system is broken and stopping innovation. What a whinny pathetic tactic. Pay up, fight it out in court or grow a pair of ________ (fill in the blank, ha!)! Bloomberg covered Google's first whine on patents back in July of this year.
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