Apple Claims Ownership of Another Word

APPLE versus PODIUM: This One Will Be Interesting

As you may remember last week I posted my review of the Podium by Pivital for the iPhone and iPod touch, a fantastic stand that proudly displays your iPhone on your desk. The Podium comes in two different colors: Platinum and Pearl White. It seems Apple has taken ownership of the word “Podium” saying that the portion of the word: “POD” is in direct reference to the iPod. Below is the press release that the President of Pivital, Scott Baumann emailed me last night:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Apple Inc. Issues Cease and Desist Letter to Pivotal Regarding Use of the Name “Podium”.

Anacortes, WA – March 17, 2009 – Pivotal, producer of Podium, the leading desktop stand for iPhone, announced today that it has received a Cease-and-Desist Letter from Apple Inc. regarding use of the name PODIUM with Pivotal’s stand. Legal counsel for Apple Inc. claims that such use infringes Apple’s trademark rights, stating that the “POD” component in the name of Pivotal’s PODIUM stand is a direct reference to the IPOD and Apple’s pending POD trademark registrations.

“If you look at our product and then look up the word Podium in the dictionary, I think it becomes pretty clear where our branding inspiration came from” states Scott Baumann, President of Pivotal. Mr. Baumann continues, “We were certainly surprised by the allegations and will be consulting with our legal counsel regarding this matter”.

Ironically enough we here at BuyMeAniPhone had scheduled Scott Baumann as a guest on our Live BlogTV Broadcast for this Saturday night at 8pm Pacific, 11pm Eastern time. You can click here to join our channel and participate on Saturday or come here to BuyMeAniPhone.com and watch the live embedded stream.

Now I love Apple and all their products but this is getting a bit ridiculous. I mean claiming the word “PODIUM” simply because it has the root “POD”. What’s next, are we all going to be banned from using the lowercase “i” since it seems as if Apple has a stranglehold on that letter of the Alphabet? Stay tuned and we will keep you posted on this saga. Again if you would like to get more information on this issue and learn more about the “PODIUM” by Pivital tune into our BlogTv Saturday night, March 21st at 8pm Pacific, 11pm eastern.

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