Apple Files for 'Places' Trademark Ahead of MobileMe Revamp?

[MacRumors]

As noted by Patently Apple, Apple has filed for a European trademark on the term "Places", potentially hoping to utilize the term as part of a revamped MobileMe service offering social networking and geolocation features. Earlier today, Apple discontinued its boxed version of MobileMe and removed the service from its online store, suggesting that a rumored transition to a revamped free service may occur in the relatively near future.

While Apple already utilizes a "Places" feature within its iPhoto application to allow users to find geo-tagged photos by where they were taken, the new trademark application seeks protection in several classification areas, including GPS-related social functions.

International Class 045: Online social networking services; providing a social networking website; assisting in the locating of people using a global positioning system (GPS).

"Places" is of course already the name of a Facebook feature that allows users to "check in" at various locations, and it is unclear whether Apple will run into difficulties with its own trademark applications given the potential close similarity to Facebook's use of the same term.

Article Link: Apple Files for 'Places' Trademark Ahead of MobileMe Revamp?

 

[amac4me]

This is getting interesting. Hopefully we see the revamped MobileMe in the very near future.

 

[LucasLand]

buy facebook

apple should buyout facebook for no more than 10 billion

 

[camelsnot]

amazing how arrogant a company can be and how screwed up patent registration is whereby a company can trademark a word like "places", which is already in other applications currently out there. But that's apple. They'll patent anything and everything they can.

 

[BC2009]

"Places" is also the name of a Google feature for rating nearby points of interest and checking ratings on nearby points of interest. I'm guessing that if nobody owns the trademark on it yet, its going to be hard to come by.

 

[3282868]

Checks in at restaurant. "Oh, Tina's here" Tag's Tina in Facebook Places, writes on Tina's wall "Hey Tina, you look great!" Tina looks around, writes back "Thanks Tim, so do you!"

Texting ensues between Tina and Tim, but neither actually meet face to face… in the same room...

The future looks great, and anti-social…

…then again, I'm on a blog, virtually writing to people I have never met…

 

[BC2009]

amazing how arrogant a company can be and how screwed up patent registration is whereby a company can trademark a word like "places", which is already in other applications currently out there. But that's apple. They'll patent anything and everything they can.

Patents and trademarks are not at all the same thing. Patents require that you innovate in some way. Trademarks or more or less for brand protection. I don't know the EU rules on trademarks, but a "Places" trademark in the USA would fail miserably since it is already used by Facebook and Google. They would have to trademark something like "iPlaces" or "Mobile Places" or "Apple Places".

Also, if you don't actively protect your trademarks in the USA, you simply lose them (or lose the power to protect them). However, you can bury a patent in a drawer and pay the maintenance fees on it and wait a decade before suing somebody for infringement.

 

[slicecom]

I sure hope they rebrand it. I never liked .Mac or MobileMe as brand names. Places sounds much better.

 

[deannnnn]

How can they just straight up steal "Places" from Facebook?
I hope Facebook sues, because that's ridiculous.

 

[puffnstuff]

I think Apple absolutely can kill Facebook the problem is they suck at executing their ideas.

 

[jreed91]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)

Hmm the banner at the Yerba center would could correlate to the mobile me refresh

 

[Salacion]

I sure hope they rebrand it. I never liked .Mac or MobileMe as brand names. Places sounds much better.

Joke, right?

If anything, they'll eliminate Mobile and just make it Me, since they already own the www.me.com domain.

I personally am tired of Facebook. I welcome an Apple social network.

 

[lsvtecjohn3]

How can they just straight up steal "Places" from Facebook?
I hope Facebook sues, because that's ridiculous.

Facebook can't sue Apple because Apple spells PLACES with capital letters. Facebook Spells it with just the capital P in Places.

Steve Jobs you're a genius

 

[Roessnakhan]

I welcome an Apple social network.

Because Ping was such a hit.

 

[slicecom]

Joke, right?

If anything, they'll eliminate Mobile and just make it Me, since they already own the www.me.com domain.

I personally am tired of Facebook. I welcome an Apple social network.

No joke.

Apple already has a social network, and it's not doing so well.

Facebook can't sue Apple because Apple spells PLACES with capital letters. Facebook Spells it with just the capital P in Places.

Steve Jobs you're a genius

I'd like to take this opportunity to announce my new computer company: aPPLE

 

[Salacion]

Because Ping was such a hit.

Obviously it sucked, but come on, how could a music social network ever work? Maybe as a subset feature to a grand social network, which would likely be integrated if this does in fact come to fruition. Me thinks Ping was never destined to become a full-fledged service; more of a ground test for the bigger picture.

 

[Roessnakhan]

Obviously it sucked, but come on, how could a music social network ever work? Maybe as a subset feature to a grand social network, which would likely be integrated if this does in fact come to fruition. Me thinks Ping was never destined to become a full-fledged service; more of a ground test for the bigger picture.

I can understand what you're saying, Ping is pretty niche based as far as social networks go, but some have had success (last.fm being the most notable).

 

[Salacion]

I think Apple absolutely can kill Facebook the problem is they suck at executing their ideas.

The only thing I can think of right now is Ping, Facetime and iAds. Which, could have been so much more from the get-go. I weep for the non-unified iChat we all hoped for.

I can understand what you're saying, Ping is pretty niche based as far as social networks go, but some have had success (last.fm being the most notable).

I think really, it's the lack of features that made Ping such a clinker, but when you think about how it's implementation into iTunes could possibly be synced to this proposed Apple branded social network, such as to display your musical taste, it could be an extremely brilliant thing.

 

[Alex Hobbs]

How can they just straight up steal "Places" from Facebook?
I hope Facebook sues, because that's ridiculous.

Apple was using Places long before Facebook.

 

[Lynxpoint]

On a related note, did anyone notice that in the Lion screenshots, the new finder uses the term 'favorites' in place of 'places'. I wonder if they changed it so that there would be no confusion as to whether or not the 'place' was local or remote.

 

[ChromeAce]

Apple was using Places long before Facebook.

Yeah, who writes these stories? Obviously not anyone who uses Macs too heavily. Places was introduced by Apple in iPhoto '09.

 

[goobot]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Ugh, I hate Facebook and all that kind of "social networking" garbage

 

[pmz]

Stupid crap, people who volunteer their location to the public domain, or even their "friends", are morons.

 

[Roessnakhan]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Ugh, I hate Facebook and all that kind of "social networking" garbage

Don't like it? Don't use it. Just because you consider it garbage doesn't mean there aren't legitimate uses for others.

 

[baddj]

"Places" is a general term, its all over the net on many websites and software. if this get approved and apple try to make it so no one can use it like the words "app store" well makes me think apple is all about power and control, that's aload of bull Sh!it.

Also the word Places is in the dictionary, so does that mean if apple gets trademark does that mean places will be removed from the dictionary -.-