Apple's "iPad Mini" Trademark Application Rejected by Patent Office

In January, the U.S. Patent
Office
rejected Apple’s attempt to trademark “iPad Mini,”* releasing
the official letter today. The office called the term "iPad mini"
“merely descriptive” because “the prefix ‘I’ denotes ‘internet’”
and “[t]he term ‘pad’ refers to a ‘pad computer’ or ‘internet pad
device,’ terms used synonymously to refer to tablet computers, of
‘a complete computer contained in a touch screen.’” Apple has
trademarked dozens of
names, from “AirDrop” to “Xserve.” AppAdvice.com
notes Apple still has issues to resolve with the trademark of
“iPad” in China and “iPhone” in Mexico and Brazil, where a local
firm is selling something it calls the
IPHONE.

You can read the full patent office’s rejection letter
here.

More Reason on intellectual
property. 

*iPad, by the way, is trademarked