Apple accused of harassing an air purifier company
It's no secret that Apple Legal is, ah, aggressive when it comes to protecting its various fruit-flavored intellectual property, but a company called BlueAir just filed a lawsuit accusing Apple's lawyers of outright harassment over BlueAir's AirPOD air purifier, pictured at right. Seems BlueAir has been trying to register a trademark on the product, and instead of filing an opposition with the USPTO based on consumer confusion with the iPod, Apple's attorneys have just been sending BlueAir angry letters and threatening massive legal fees. Of course, that's pretty much what lawyers do, but BlueAir's asked the court to step in and rule definitively on the subject before pursuing their trademark application any further. Seeing how protective Apple's been of the "-pod" suffix in the past, that could lead to some interesting rulings -- we'll be keeping an eye on this one for sure.
Disclaimer: Although Nilay is an attorney, super guy, and snappy dresser, he's not your attorney, and this post is not legal advice or analysis and should not be taken as such.
