Apple pays woman not to use 'Pod'
updated 10:05 am EDT, Tue September 5, 2006
Apple pays for trademark
Apple will reportedly pay a New Jersey woman to stop using the word "pod" in the name of a protective case she designed for laptop computers, according to The China Post. Terry Wilson, 53, who sells the "TightPod" over the Internet, said Apple contacted her after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said she would soon receive a trademark for the product. The woman wouldn't say how much Apple agreed to pay toward costs of the name change; however, Apple was seeking to keep her trademark from diluting the iPod brand and also protect its own trademarks: "I'm going to be changing the name," Wilson, of Medford Lakes, New Jersey, said yesterday in a phone interview with the publication. "I know that sounds like I'm a sell-out, but I don't have the resources to litigate a trademark case." Apple spokesman Steve Dowling wouldn't comment, according to the report.
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Crazy...
Has Apple gone completely loopy with the whole "pod" issue? Many, many everyday things have been called something with a "pod" in them since the word has existed.
It's a generic word, and is often used to denote products that enclose a person or machine. Perhaps Apple shouldn't have chosen such a common term if it was so concerned with "dilution". Geez.