Well, would you look at that -- our good friend Deutsche Telekom seems to have lost a lawsuit it filed against rival European wireless carrier Telia over its use of the color magenta in its logo. The Danish Eastern Regional High Court today ruled that Telia and DT don't compete directly in the Danish market and that Telia isn't using the same magenta shade, leading the court to overturn an injunction DT sought against Telia's use of the color. On top of that, the court further ruled that Deutsche Telekom has to fork over 1.5M kroner ($316,188) in court costs and attorneys' fees to Telia, which probably stings a little more than having to share a color. Of course, now that magenta is the People's Color, maybe DT should look into playing a little nicer, don't you think?

[Thanks, Andreas]

We're not gonna read too much into this just yet, but when everyone's favorite fruit-flavored consumer electronics company files to protect its trademark as it relates to a wide range of gaming devices, well, we feel you'd want to know. The USPTO sleuths over at Trademork just gave us the heads up on this recently-filed application from Cupertino, which requests protection of the word "APPLE" for products that classify as "toys, games and playthings, namely, hand-held units for playing electronic games; hand-held units for playing video games; stand alone video game machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games." And come to think of it, we did see Apple file for a videogame-related patent not too long ago, so who knows: perhaps the iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV will soon have even more friends among the company's ever-expanding non-PC ecosystem. Then again, we've heard this rumor in one form or another countless times before, and right now pining for a resurrected Gizmondo is already giving us enough headaches.

[Via Trademork]

We're pretty sure Apple faces about as much legal heat as every other big time corporation out there, but ever since Cisco invited Apple (or vice-versa?) to a few rounds of throwdown, "Apple" and "trademark" just seem to go hand in hand. Apparently, the POD moniker that has caught so much flack over the years is facing a slew of additional opponents, who apparently think the oh-so-coveted three letter word fits better in its own name. PodFitness, Inc., Secure-It, Inc., Varsity Group Inc., TastyBytes Software, Inc., VNU Media Measurement & Information, Inc., and Line 6, Inc. (makers of the highly-regarded "POD" lineup of guitar effects processors) are all crying foul on Apple's notoriously tight grip, but considering that all the filings are still marked as "pending," we can only assume the war wages on. Nevertheless, some of the filings stretch back to 2004, and although most things like this have a way of simply "vanishing" over time, we're fairly certain the grumpy plaintiffs are (at least somewhat) enjoying that "instituted for proceeding" bit. So while opposition continues to flail helplessly as it tries to disarm the almighty POD from Steve and Co., we're still left wondering how everyone and their next of kin can prefix any product at all with "i" without raising a fuss.

[Thanks, Nikropht]

You probably remember our post this past weekend citing a Wired Listening Post story which claimed that Apple was trying to claim ownership of the word "podcast"; we even got -- OMG -- Slashdotted. Well, Wired Listening Post has now printed Apple's letter to the company in question, Podcast Ready, and it seems that the real situation is a bit murkier than our original post might have led you to believe. While Steve and friends are definitely gung-ho about Podcast Ready abandoning the use of "myPodder" for its automation software (claiming that it is "very similar phonetically to Apple's iPod mark and appears to have been chosen intentionally to capitalize on the fame and goodwill of Apple's marks"), the letter goes on to say that "Apple, of course, has no general objection to proper use of the descriptive term 'podcast' as part of a trademark for goods and services offered in the podcasting field." What it basically comes down to is this: Apple objects to "Podcast Ready" trademark applications which cover "portable listening devices" and "software to manage digital content for portable media players," but is fine with an application for that branding which only refers to podcasting in general. It's still confusing as hell, since it's not entirely obvious where one would draw the line between "podcasting in general" and podcasting as it relates to portable listening devices and software for managing podcasts for portable media devices, but either way what is very clear is that Apple is determined to protect its turf and prevent anyone from using the words "pod" and "podcast" in any manner they believe might possibly infringe on its trademarks.

[Via MacRumors]