Apple files for "iPodcast" trademark
Whatchu talkin' about, Apple? Maybe it's really just a noble gesture to try and finally end the feud between Dave Winer and Adam Curry but sheesh, Apple — trying to get a trademark on the term "iPodcast" is kind of a slap in the face to all the folks who were doing this long before you came along (and in turn, all the folks who were publishing audio shows on the web before the term "podcasting" came along). Even worse, the two USPTO filings have all that vague and wildly inclusionary language we've come to know and hate about patent applications: "computers, computer peripherals, hand held computers, computer terminals, personal digital assistants, electronic organizers, electronic notepads, apparatus for recording, transmission and reproduction of sounds, images, or other data; magnetic data carriers." Plus, add to that "telecommunications services; communication by computer, computer intercommunication; telex, telegram and telephone services; rental, hire and leasing of communications apparatus and of electronic mailboxes; electronic bulletin board services," etc. Um… is there anything that wouldn't fall under the rubric of that patent? Yikes. Well, for what it's worth we throw our 2 measley pennies (which we'll summarize as "screw you and the RSS 2.0 enclosure you rode in on") into the ocean while the vast juggernaut of intellectual property imperialism marches on.
