Apple’s Trademark Tricks to Hide the Real Name of the next iPhone

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“One of Apple’s most fiercely guarded secrets? The name of the next iPhone,” Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg. “It may be called the iPhone X to celebrate the iconic product’s tenth anniversary or just iPhone 8. But Tim Cook doesn’t want us to know for sure until he utters the name on stage.”

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“In recent years, Apple-obsessed sleuths have managed to ferret out the names and details of the company’s products by searching trademark offices around the world,” Gurman reports. “But their challenge has become exponentially harder thanks to a well-timed rule change at Jamaica’s trademark office and some clever maneuvering in Liechtenstein.”

The approach “involves registering names in foreign countries without searchable trademark databases. The tactic leverages a rule in section 44(d) of the U.S. Trademark Act that lets companies apply for a trademark in one country and receive registration priority in the U.S. if filed there within six months of the original, foreign filing date,” Gurman reports. “Of the 177 countries that comply with U.S. rules, 66 lack online trademark databases. These include Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Peru and Jamaica. The latter has become a favorite hiding place for companies such as Apple.”

Read more in the full article here.

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