Court sides with Apple in TigerDirect case

SPeedY_B

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From AppleInsider:

"A judge has denied a request by computer retailer TigerDirect for a preliminary injunction against Apple Computer over allegations that Apple's nickname for its new operating system, "Tiger," infringes on the retailer's trademarked name.

The ruling was part of a 56 page opinion handed down on May 11th by Judge Joan Lenard of the United States District Court for the District of Florida. After weighing arguments from both sides, the Court found that "there is greater risk of damage to Apple from granting the injunction than any potential harm to TigerDirect from Apple's use of Tiger marks."


During the case, Apple VP Phil Schiller was called as a witness and implied that Apple had planned the use of large predator cats as the codenames for its major releases of Mac OS X. Also, Apple disputed that only 4 out of 517 people associated the name "Tiger" with an actual company, giving Apple plenty of leverage behind the use of the name Tiger as a name-brand.

"Turning to the overall impression created by the marks, in the context of each party's use thereof, the Court finds that the marks are distinctly different," Judge Lenard wrote in her opinion denying TigerDirect's motion. She said Tiger marks are frequent in the computer industry and that she saw no evidence that Apple adopted the Tiger name in bad faith or that it has caused any confusion in the market place."

The court has denied TigerDirect a preliminary injunction, and the case is most likely to be thrown out.

Woo :D
 
I did not even know TigerDirect existed before they sued Apple.
 
Yeah was a sad case to begin with as it sounded like the only evidence they had was search engine placement, and they were ranked above Apple in them. :p
 
X-Istence said:
I did not even know TigerDirect existed before they sued Apple.
I've heard the name, but they seem to be a company on the way down.
 
What a ridiculously stupid case. Did TigerDirect really expect to win? :D
 
Of course they didn't expect to win, but it obviously has given them some publicity.
 
j79zlr said:
Of course they didn't expect to win, but it obviously has given them some publicity.
and it worked...
X-Istence said:
I did not even know TigerDirect existed before they sued Apple.


Maybe not positive publicity, I doubt Jan's going to go and buy something from them now... however there may be some who will.
 
If you have a trademark and dont do everything you can to defend it you loose it. Therefore even if TigerDirect knew it was stupid and even if they knew it was futile. They had to do it.
 
yep. human nature. when in doubt.... sue for it. people would sue for anything these days, won't they? Went to a local-ish Taco Bell/KFC with a few friends the other day, and when i opened the doors, i nearly walked into a metal bar they have between the two so they can lock in the traditional single-door method, instead of how most double doors lock into each other. I turned to my friend and said to him "yeah..... wonder how long it'll take for someone to sue them because somebody opened the door and walked into that bar."

And i doubt TigerDirect is on it's way out. usually the most common e-tailers you hear of when you ask, or at least when i ask, are ZipZoomFly, NewEgg, and TigerDirect. i usually try to find what i'm looking for at one of those three before i look somewhere else. I almost never use eBay.
 
ElementalDragon said:
And i doubt TigerDirect is on it's way out. usually the most common e-tailers you hear of when you ask, or at least when i ask, are ZipZoomFly, NewEgg, and TigerDirect.
Well with all the bad press bringing up things like their bad rating with the BBB I don't think they are on their way up. ;)
 
maybe not on their way up, but probably also not on their way out. probably just sittin in the middle. :)
 
ElementalDragon said:
maybe not on their way up, but probably also not on their way out. probably just sittin in the middle. :)
Well with all the bad press, a negative rating from the Better Business Bureau, and up and comers like Newegg chipping away at them I think that middle is sinking. ;)
 
I didnt really see this going through at all. You simply cant trademark a common language word very effectively. I had to deal with something like this sometime last year.
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
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Impressed you have kept this alive this long EP! So many sites have come and gone. :(

Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
hello peeps... is been some time since i last came here.
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