Following Google's insistence that media outlets shouldn't be using the term "Googling," Apple Computer has become similarly protective over the word "pod."
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has sent cease-and-desist letters to at least two companies that include the word "pod" in their product titles, in connection with its iPod digital-music players.
Mach5products.com, which sells a device for collecting data from vending machines called
Profit Pod, received one of the letters.
TightPod, which manufactures laptop-protecting covers, got another.
Apple asked both companies to rename their products, arguing that they infringe on its iPod trademark.
Sarah Wright, intellectual-property solicitor at law firm Olswang, said Apple's letters are not unusual. The Mac maker may not expect or intend to take the matter all the way to court, she said.
"It's common practice for big-brand owners to send letters like this...If they don't police their brand properly and ensure that trademarks that are too similar to their brands don't get on the register, it makes it more difficult to enforce their rights against third parties," she said.
