Mfarhanonline Social Media News: You’ve heard about the iPod. But what about the BrainPod, the MixPod and the GoPod? Probably not, because Apple opposed their names when they applied to be trademarked. Apple often files oppositions against trademarks it believes would infringe on its brand names or logos if granted — so often, in fact, that in 2011 it did so more than all but two organizations: Kellogg and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Zynga was the fourth most frequent trademark contestor, opposing names like Cupidville, Loveville and Quakville. Facebook was the eighth, opposing Facemeeting, Faithbook and Facadebook. Trademark search engine Trademarkia compiled the “trademark bullies” rankings, using opposition filings as its criteria. Public oppositions to a trademark application can be made within a set 30-day period after it’s filed and are often made in conjunction with a private cease-and-desist letter. “Sometimes the opposition filings legitimate,” says Trademarkia CEO Raj Abhyanker, a lawyer turned entrepreneur who once worked with trademark issues. “Maybe ‘facemeetings’ is so similar to Facebook that people would assume it's owned by Facebook. It's a legitimate opposition filing. But really would anyone be confused that ‘etoro openbook’ is affiliated with Facebook? I don't think so.” Abhyanker wasn’t the first to call aggressive trademark opposers “bullies.” He borrowed the term from the United States Patent and Trademark Office , which used the term when asking for comments on the extent to which small businesses could be harmed by aggressive trademark litigation tactics. There are cases when he agrees that the term is appropriate. “Do people know when they donate money to Livestrong that a lot of it goes to fighting anything that has to do ! with the word 'strong'?” he says. The line between “victims” and “bullies” of trademark legislation tactics isn’t always clear — despite a ranking of those victims in a separate tab on the Trademarkia site. Apple, for instance, appears in both the list of top bullies and top victims in technology. While its victims tend to be small companies, its recent bullies include Samsung, Dell, RIM and Nokia. From a business perspective, it’s a distinction that isn’t very important to Trademarkia. It’s not ranking the most aggressive or bullied trademark holders in order to draw attention to them. Rather, it’s hoping companies who are filing new trademarks will use its free “fights” search tool to determine the likeliness of opposition from specific companies — and then that they’ll upgrade to a service that alerts them when someone files a trademark that might infringe on theirs. That might help small businesses without trademark lawyers better-protect their trademarks from other small businesses, but it likely won’t do much for the fate of those with trademarks being opposed — either fairly or unfairly — by large companies. Trademarkia provides a list of trademark oppositions for its “biggest bullies” companies. Each case has an emoticon attached to it — a smilely face for a trademark applicant that prevailed despite being opposed, a frustrated face for applications still in progress and a sad face for those applications that were effectively stopped. “The biggest companies always win because the small companies don't have enough money to fight it,” Abhyanker says. “Most of the time there are no happy faces.” Image courtesy of iStockphoto , OtmarW More About: apple , Facebook , trademarks For more Business coverage: Follow Mfarhanonline Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and ! iPad So cial Media reviews series maintain by Mayya
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