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KnightWRX

macrumors Pentium
Jan 28, 2009
15,046
4
Quebec, Canada
But at least across industries you shouldn't have this problem..

That's already how trademarks work. You have to register them in a class where it's appropriate for your product and someone in a different class can use the word.

You did read the nice summary which explains all of this ?
 

gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,565
You know something's wrong when Apple has to get the rights for a port name from a motorbike company. Odd.

Could you explain your reasoning behind this? Or possibly could anyone who marked this up explain your reasoning? What do you think is wrong with buying the right to use a trademark from a company that owns it?
 

ConCat

macrumors 6502a
Could you explain your reasoning behind this? Or possibly could anyone who marked this up explain your reasoning? What do you think is wrong with buying the right to use a trademark from a company that owns it?

Because a port has nothing to do with bikes, and you'd think that that would be enough product distinction.
The whole point of patenting things is to prevent competitors from mooching off your hard work. That isn't really possible when the two products are in no way similar. Even the way they style "Lightning" is dramatically different. I don't see why they needed permission.
 

whooleytoo

macrumors 604
Aug 2, 2002
6,607
716
Cork, Ireland.
What's not clear (to me) - did Apple negotiate for the trademark before Lightning was announced/released, or did they just announce it and waited to see who (if anyone) would sue?
 

johnsy

macrumors 6502
Nov 15, 2006
443
0
useless novelty items. USB is a king of connectors. It is the best of the best. Cheap adaptors available. Compare that to everpriced apple stuff that changes every few years without any logical continuum.
 

tbrinkma

macrumors 68000
Apr 24, 2006
1,651
93
useless novelty items. USB is a king of connectors. It is the best of the best. Cheap adaptors available. Compare that to everpriced apple stuff that changes every few years without any logical continuum.

Yep. Apple's changed their charge/sync connector *once* in the past 9+ years. Compared to the various one-phone-only connectors, different size & polarity barrel plugs, USB mini & USB micro, that's *so* darned often! :eek:

And the 'everpriced' (I assume you meant overpriced) apple stuff that costs the same as any other name-brand equivalent, and still has the cheap-as-dirt off-brand versions available for the same low-end prices as the generic USB-mini/micro cables. :eek:

It's almost like you *want* to complain about something, so you'll just make stuff up to pretend you have some sort of justification. :rolleyes:
 

hchung

macrumors 6502a
Oct 2, 2008
689
1
useless novelty items. USB is a king of connectors. It is the best of the best. Cheap adaptors available. Compare that to everpriced apple stuff that changes every few years without any logical continuum.

"King of connectors," huh? There's certainly enough variants to make an empire out of them, indeed.

Seriously though, from an engineering standpoint, USB is pretty big mess. You can tell when even in 2005, Intel (you know, the guys who basically wrote the spec) had bugs with their USB2 controllers.
 

ChrisCW11

macrumors 65816
Jul 21, 2011
1,037
1,433
Great

Because the last thing Apple or H-D wanted was consumers to confuse a micro connector to a motorcycle.

Sometimes, trademark law is just plain stupid.
 

Laird Knox

macrumors 68000
Jun 18, 2010
1,956
1,343
Because a port has nothing to do with bikes, and you'd think that that would be enough product distinction.
The whole point of patenting things is to prevent competitors from mooching off your hard work. That isn't really possible when the two products are in no way similar. Even the way they style "Lightning" is dramatically different. I don't see why they needed permission.

And that is why Apple didn't license the trademark in regards to motorcycles.

----------

Because the last thing Apple or H-D wanted was consumers to confuse a micro connector to a motorcycle.

Sometimes, trademark law is just plain stupid.

See above...
 

djelliott

macrumors newbie
Sep 11, 2008
7
0
Buell makes (or rather made) the Lightning and HD owns Buell


DING, DING, DING! We have a winner. The Buell X1 Lightning. Harley owned Buell Motorcycles From 1998 to 2009 when it shut the company down.

buell-x1-lightning-08.jpg


----------

And here's the Buell Thunderbolt.

buell-thunderbolt-05.jpg
 

vastoholic

macrumors 68000
Jan 28, 2009
1,957
1
Tulsa, OK
What's weird about it?

Lightning - fast as a lightning - fast motorcycle... Aren't these associations obvious?

I think you forget we're talking about HD here and not Ducati.

Buell makes (or rather made) the Lightning and HD owns Buell

I thought HD no longer owned Buell. I was under the impression they finally dropped the line and Eric was on his own now.

Those are hideous abomination variants of the respective motorcycles you pictured above.much prefer the stock look on Buell's

Lightning
2008-buell-lightning-xb12-6_600x0w.jpg


Thunderbolt
Buell%20S3%20Thunderbolt%20%201.jpg
 
Last edited:

moderngamenewb

macrumors 6502
Jul 20, 2011
441
63
It will be slender and light weight, run on kool-aid, need three adapters to put air in the tires,
returned to Apple to replace the battery and only go to Starbucks and Apple stores.


Image

And apple care warranty will probably last only a year or two, and the bike will cost almost double the price if a non apple one
 

djelliott

macrumors newbie
Sep 11, 2008
7
0
I think you forget we're talking about HD here and not Ducati.



I thought HD no longer owned Buell. I was under the impression they finally dropped the line and Eric was on his own now.

Those are hideous abomination variants of the respective motorcycles you pictured above.


Yes, Buell shut it's doors in 2009. Eric is doing racing only bikes at this time and yeah, i could have picked better pics.:)
 
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