The United States Patent and Trademark office has had a change of heart towards Apple's iPad Mini. The USPTO retracted its objections to the company's application it filed to trademark the iPad mini name, according to PCMag.com.
According to the document from the USPTO, posted online by MacRumors, "the examining attorney has determined that the following refusals issued in the initial Office action should be withdrawn. The examining attorney apologizes for any inconvenience caused."
Just a week ago, the patent and trademark office said the request for the trademark was not sufficient because it only outlines a certain feature of the iPad Mini.
"In this case, both the individual components and the composite result are descriptive of applicant's goods and do not create a unique, incongruous, or non-descriptive meaning in relation to the goods being small handheld mobile devices comprising tablet computers capable of providing internet access," the previous letter stated. "Therefore, the mark is merely descriptive of a feature or characteristic of the goods and registration is refused under Section 2(e)(1) of the Trademark Act."
Apple has already trademarked the name "iPad." It was the name "mini" that had been the issue. The USPTO has felt the word "mini" was only describing the fact that the iPad was small.
Although the application has no longer been completely rejected, the patent and trademark office is not ready to hand Apple the trademark just yet.
The USPTO said that even though no other company has applied to trademark the "iPad Mini" name so far, there are currently eight other application that resemble Apple's.
"An applicant may not claim exclusive rights to terms or designs that others may need to use to describe or show their goods or services in the marketplace," the USPTO said.
Apple must produce a disclaimer saying it is only attempting to trademark the entire "iPad Mini" name and not just the name "mini." Other companies must be afforded the opportunity to include "mini" in their product names.
