One wonders if TigerDirect approached Apple prior to this point on the matter. It's not like Apple's been quiet about the name of 10.4 since... last JUNE at the latest?

Doesn't change the law - I'm just wondering why they didn't try to work it out before running to court (if, in fact, they did not).

Just a way for Tiger Direct to get noticed. It'll blow ovr quickly and get press and activity for both companies. "Any press is good pres" kind of thing. A lot of people don't know Tiger direct even exists, this is a cheap way to get advertising.
: )

Over priced and usually doesn't have the good priced stuff in stock. My preference is Cyberguys.

I see 735 trademarks for Tiger in various uses.

Why them?

I actually read Tiger's complaint and memo. They have some legit points:

1) Apple only announced the April 29th launch date publicly on April 12, 2005. That's critical in asking "Why only now?" -- there was nothing imminent prior to that.

2) Apple tried registering "Tiger" as a trademark (with intent-to-use) in July 2003, but was denied b/c of possible confusion. Apple won the Tiger trademark by agreeing to limit its use to computer operating software.

3) Tiger attempted to settle, and then filed an opposition to Apple's mark in December 2004.

4) Tiger has six registered marks, and several other common-law marks.

Much of this wouldn't matter (IMHO) if Apple wasn't a reseller itself. But since they do sell many of the same products as TigerDirect, there is a beef. Tiger makes a good case that Apple is using the Tiger mark to venture into other sales areas than just operating systems, and that this can affect Tiger's revenues.

Personally, I don't think this passes the "likelihood of confusion" test, but that's for a court to decide. If I were in TigerDirect's shoes, I'd similarly be upset.

Quote

Intruder wrote:
I see 735 trademarks for Tiger in various uses.

Why them?

Well, just because there's a trademark for a word, doesn't mean that others can't use it... one of the keys of the test is "likelihood of confusion" between the two. TigerDirect seems to be saying that because Apple sells computer gear, and TigerDirect does, coupled with Apple's multiple uses of Tiger in ways like "TigerCentral", would lead people to think that TigerDirect is an Apple company/site/products/etc or that 10.4 is a TigerDirect product (though that possibility seems remote).

correct me if i am wrong, but didnt apple go ahead and get trademarks on several big cats a while back including tiger?

i could swear i remember this, but cannot say with absolute certainty

TRO

take a look at this page...http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,4248,1205653,00.asp, it states that Apple actually registered Tiger as a "computer operating system" trademark....I say boycott TigerDirect....@$$holes!!

I can smell Microsoft's dirty little hands at play in this snafu.

does this mean every zoo and every nation that has a 'tiger' needs to get clearance from TigerDirect?

this is another example of the pin-headed, money grubbing, attention seeking idiots that run companies......

Kellogg Corporation was also served with papers. Tiger Direct couldn't locate Tony the Tiger, so they served the parent company. In addition, Disney was served over Tigger... Esso/Exxon on over the phrase "Put a Tiger in your tank",
also sued were the city of Detroit because their Major League Baseball team's use of Tiger, the city of Cincinnati for their NFL Football team's use of the name "Bengals" and Halloween over that holiday's use of the colors Black and Orange.

We've also heard rumors, but have been unable to confirm that the University of Texas is suing Microsoft over the use of the term "Longhorn"...

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,4248,1205653,00.asp

"Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Apple Earmarks New Cat Names
By Nick Ciarelli
Microsoft Watch Mac Factor: Cougar, Lynx, Leopard and Tiger are among the likely successors to Mac OS X "Panther," according to a filing with the U.S. Patent Office.

Apple Computer Inc. trademarked a number of big cats this month, indicating that the company intends to continue its feline naming scheme for future Mac OS X upgrades. ADVERTISEMENT

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple registered four new trademarks in early July: Cougar, Lynx, Leopard and Tiger. All four were filed under the "computer operating system software" category.

News of the trademarks was first posted last week to Mac site MacRumors.

At the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple announced Mac OS X 10.3, also known by its cat-themed code name, Panther; Apple said it plans to ship the $129 Panther upgrade by the end of the year. eWEEK first reported the Panther sobriquet in August 2002. " The story goes on...

The copyright issue is completely out of hand. Lessig makes awesome points about this and it draws the whole system into question when common words are allowed to be trademarked.

P.S. Hallmark trademarked P.S. by the way... I say screw them all. Not everything can be commodified.

Tony

Quote

Eric24601 wrote:
I can smell Microsoft's dirty little hands at play in this snafu.

Microsoft is a substantial financier of SCO Group. SCO Group's solitary line of business is to sue enterprise-class users and resellers of Linux (IBM among them), and to extort fees from a multitude of little people using fear, uncertainty and doubt. Their efforts seem to be failing, but they DID slow things down.

I need your insight!

the only thing consumers can do is act with their $$$

TigerDirect has shown themselves to be idiots and so all Mac users should not purchase products from TigerDirect

they want to act like assholes, then they can reap the benefit of their actions and lose sales

companies always enjoy that

Tigerdirect is a business like any other business they are protecting there name, the lawsuite timing is iffy but one thing is for sure if Intel came out with the Pentium Athlon processor 5 I guarentee AMD and Intel would get into it... Tiger direct Holds the rights to "Tiger" "Tigerdirect" and "Tigersoftware".

The main reason for the suite “if you read the story” is that the the marketing they are using is infringing on TigerDirect as it stands today allot of you do not know that Tigerdirect used to be and still is software building company or that thier SIC code is listed as a software company to this very day...

"The main reason for the suite “if you read the story” is that the the marketing they are using is infringing on TigerDirect as it stands today allot of you do not know that Tigerdirect used to be and still is software building company or that thier SIC code is listed as a software company to this very day..."


what drugs are you taking?

TD is a box pushing, catalog whoring, lame company - if their SIC code is listed as a software company than they clearly are mis-representing themselves to their customer base (which is about to get a lot smaller)

how do you confuse an operating system with an online retailer?

Quote

Guest wrote:
the only thing consumers can do is act with their $$$

TigerDirect has shown themselves to be idiots and so all Mac users should not purchase products from TigerDirect

they want to act like assholes, then they can reap the benefit of their actions and lose sales

companies always enjoy that

Tell them you were going to purchase a product from their site (A Canary Wireless Hotspotter is what I said I was going to buy] but because of their inane assinine lawsuit you will never EVER do business with such bunch of schmucks again. I just wanted to phone you to let you know that.

Be polite, and firm but not abusive. Note in the above paragraph I didn't say a swear (came close).

They get a couple hundred or a couple thousand calls like that they might find it in themselves to use both hands and pull they head from their bottom.

C

At the l1th hr 59th minute, what a suprise, what dramatic turn of events. Wonder of wonders. Ooooooooooohhhh

What does TigerDirect have to lose with this gambit? If it earns them four whole days of notice - May 3rd, comeon - they wouldn't otherwise earn in four whole lifetimes, why the hell not?!?

I see nothing but a win-win (no pun intended) all round. Who should care if Mac fans don't buy another thing from TigerDirect (btw, how many have???). If it should actually turn out they have pinged Apple at an embarrassing moment, all the better. They might gain enough publicity to stay in business with nothing more than a website and ad revenue.

Sorry, I can't take this very seriously. Except that it might hold up delivery of my copy of Tiger! If that happens, nuke 'em, shut down their secure server, have fun.

I know that William Blake wrote it with an 'y' as the custom was in those days, but I cannot see why not TigerDirect shouldn't sue the eventual descendants of that poet for his use (abuse) of their word! Maybe they can get some interest rate added to it which would add up to something for a couple of centuries infringement of their legal rights!

And I am sure they can do a lot better than this even, if they go abroad! Maybe someone should call them to inform that this animal is also called Tiger in various languages, such as Norwegina, Danish, Swedish, German etc. etc., so there must surely be some more enterprises around this world to sue.

Ah, TigerDirect, TigerDirect, burning not so very bright in the forests of the night! What confused hand or eye could frame thy absurd assymetry?

Like a German philosopher once said: Even the Gods themselves fight in vain against stupidity!

They file and injunction against Apple over OS X 10.4 (codenamed Tiger), but not The Paper Tiger software company.... or SmileTiger Software Corporation....or Purple Tiger software....or White Tiger software....

Seems a bit selective...

Apple's trademark for "Tiger"

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=r8krrm.3.2

their tiger trademark covers a store name Tiger which SELLS those products. It doesn't include a software product named tiger anymore than it does a Baseball team named the Tigers.

this is a frivolous lawsuit and they will never get my business again.

I build PCs regularly, and have bought items from TD. I prefer NewEgg, but occasionally they don't have what I want or need. But this is absurd - nobody in their right mind is confusing the two corps, I assure you. And Apple isn't trying to "ride the coattails" of TD.

This is the new advertising. Get used to it - lawsuits as advertising. A natural evolution of "wardrobe malfunction as advertising." Humans are endlessly fascinating, no?

Quote

Guest wrote:
take a look at this page...http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,4248,1205653,00.asp, it states that Apple actually registered Tiger as a "computer operating system" trademark....I say boycott TigerDirect....@$$holes!!

thanks guest-- i was about to start ripping my own hair out from the insanity-- but organic chemistry exams took precedent...

TRO

Not even Reality Check would say TigerDirect is right to sue Apple.

Hey, watch this:

Tiger.

It looks like they'll have to sue me, too. Is there a counterseuit Apple could file against these idiots for wasting their time?

reading this - "As a result of the perceived confusion between the products now being marketed by Apple under the 'Tiger' brand"...........


hhhmmm so we're not supposed to know the difference between a computer stockist and a very advanced operating system? duh!

Talk about getting free advertising (I'd never heard of TigerDirect till today)

Maybe hundreds of users should ring tigerdirect and try and order OSX - 10.4?

I wonder how long before they decide to sue Tiger Beat magazine....

Oh, well, you know the old saying, "There's no such thing as bad publicity."

Quote

Guest wrote:
Tell them you were going to purchase a product from their site (A Canary Wireless Hotspotter is what I said I was going to buy] but because of their inane assinine lawsuit you will never EVER do business with such bunch of schmucks again. I just wanted to phone you to let you know that.

Be polite, and firm but not abusive. Note in the above paragraph I didn't say a swear (came close).

Good thing you were so polite, I'm sure they were very grateful for being called Schmucks instead of Assholes?

I just searched for "macintosh" on TD's site. It resulted in a bunch of WinTel Boxes with the following text above it: "TigerDirect.com recommends Microsoft® Windows® XP."

I'm curious if this is something new they just put in.

Never heard of these idiots until now, and now that they're pulling this garbage, they go on the immediate "do not buy" list.

I highly doubt this will be found to be a TM infringement.
One is the name of a retailer.
The other is the name of an OS.
These are not the same nor would there be marketplace confusion.
It's a cheap play for a settlement. Who has deep pockets?

+

Quote

Guest wrote:
I just searched for "macintosh" on TD's site. It resulted in a bunch of WinTel Boxes with the following text above it: "TigerDirect.com recommends Microsoft® Windows® XP."

Nice one, Guest. I scrolled down the same page, and it appears TigerDirect sells nothing for the Macintosh operating system. IANALB I'd say this substantially weakens their argument.

This sounds like sour grapes. TigerDirect seemed to at one sell Macs, IIRC what I saw in the catalogs they sent me. But maybe Apple pulled the Mac business from them and they're just one of the disgruntled resellers.

Anyway, here's a link to Joe Wilcox's take: http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/wilcox. Joe is definitely not a Mac partisan and he concludes it's because they're a Windows reseller. (I'd add that MS probably is funding it for them - echoes of SCO.)

In America, anyone can sue for any reason, real or imagined, and it will be heard. Of course, if it's nonsense, the court will dismiss it, but judges seldom sanction plaintiffs for frivolous lawsuits. It's depressing to learn that Germany and many other countries now enjoy a legal system that's vastly superior to the US system in many ways.

Thse countries have a very simple way to reduce frivolous lawsuits: the loser pays all. That means all of the attorney's fees for both plaintifff and defendant, and all of the court costs. People tend to think twice about filing a suit - the penalties for losing are too great. There' no such inhibitions here.

A search at the US Patent and Trademark Office (www.uspto.gov) for "tiger" yielded 1241 licenses

TigerDirect should be ordered to pay Apple and the courts for wasting everyones time while trying to get attention

I've bought tons of equipment, external boxes, hardware etc from TigerDirect. No more I say! What a crock of poo! I'll no more recommend TigerDirect to a friend or a co-worker or anybody any longer. If you've done the same, I suggest you repent! lol

<mumbles & counts rosary> Hail Apple, full of grace........

I would have thought Apple would have a team of high-priced lawyers to make sure something like this would not happen. Me thinks there needs to be some housecleaning in the legal department!!!

Some of the people here need to learn the difference between trademarks and copyrights. And I hope you're being facetious about Tiger Direct suing Wlliam Blake's descendants or suing a zoo that has a tiger on display.

The whole question is one of customer confusion. Personally, I don't think there's something like that going on here, but I'm not an expert on trademark law. I don't get the impression that anyone else posting here is an expert either, judging from the complete lack of understanding of trademark law displayed by many of them.

Guest's "Not so fast" posting near the top seems to have rational thought behind it, but everyone is apparently ignoring it.

Quote

BradC wrote:
Guest's "Not so fast" posting near the top seems to have rational thought behind it, but everyone is apparently ignoring it.

I'd give this company the benefit of the doubt if they'd come up with this lawsuit, you know, a few months ago.

Waiting until the day before Tiger is sold is just too stupid, however. Even if they DO have a point I have to ask where they've been for the last year. If this is really a problem for them (and not a cheap publicity stunt) then it would have been smart for them to address this when there was a chance that something could be done about it. By waiting until the last day I have to conclude that they don't actually want anything to change which means that attention is their only motivation.

"Waiting until the day before Tiger is sold is just too stupid"

Nope..they're climbing on to the Tiger news bandwagon, getting tons of free publicity, hoping that the $$$ from it offsets any penalties they might incur..also hoping for an out of court settlement, if Apple's lawyers decide that its cheaper to pay them than to fight them....

However, as this could cause issues with the Apple music lawsuit, Jobs might just squash them.

Keep in mind that we can't know (unless we're told) what passed between Apple and TigerDirect since OS X Tiger was announced last year. It's easy to assume that TigerDirect just appeared out of the woodwork yesterday (for publicity or leverage) when their lawsuit was filed, but the two companies likely have been negotiating for months. Apple has invested a bundle in the "Tiger" identity since June 2004, and TigerDirect has been establishing their own brand identity for years. Both companies now have a lot at stake, so settlement will be difficult. Apple could have avoided this by picking another cat name: "Puma" or "Oscelot" or "Selkirk Rex".

"but the two companies likely have been negotiating for months."

Why would Apple waste one second of their time negotiating with people who are making a baseless claim against them?

"Apple has invested a bundle in the "Tiger" identity since June 2004, and TigerDirect has been establishing their own brand identity for years"

It doesn't matter how long Tiger Direct's been around, a frivolous lawsuit is still a frivolous lawsuit.

"Both companies now have a lot at stake, so settlement will be difficult."

Settle? If this ever went to court, Tiger Direct would be laughed right out of it. There's no sense in settling.

I can personally say that I am a tigerdirect employee, and this has been an ongoing matter that will and has taken alot of time. This is not something that just surfaced. Tiger approached apple long before any of this even started to be talked about. It may seem chidlish, but in the corporate worl, you have to what is needed to keep a business alive. Yes, it can seem as a ploy to get more advertisment for the company, but when you look at the amount of money spent on a lawsuite of such magnitude, you could get alot more advertisements for the same price elsewere. Everyone in here is very quick to jump to conclusions on there own, however, I would venture to guess that no-one in here works in a corporate enviornment and obviously has no clue as to what really goes on there.

You know anyone can post on these, so anyone could say they are an employee of one company or the other. Personally I think TigerDirect sells crappy computers (their "TigerBrand") and I can find the other products at other stores for less. I am not a Mac user (yet, will be in July) and I think this is absolutely absurd. I mean wasting time and money. If they knew Apple was going to use "Tiger" they should of sued then, not send things back and forth, sue them then.

Personally when I hear the word "tiger" I don't think of Apple or TigerDirect. I think of the big striped (striped? stripped? doesn't matter) cat that is so damn lazy it never comes out when you visit the damn zoo.