Randolph Divisions, the company the makes the HearPod hearing aid, is suing Apple for trademark infringement over its EarPods, reports TNW.
The lawsuit, filed last week in the Hawaii District Court in Honolulu, revolves around the ‘HearPod’ trademark Randolph Divisions successfully registered back in late 2007. In the suit, Randolph Divisions alleges that Apple infringes on said trademark with its EarPods line of earbuds.
The Apple EarPods debuted on September 12, 2012 and shipped with the iPhone 5. You can check out the introductory video here.
Notably, Randolph Divisions owns the trademark for HearPod registered in Class 10 (Medical, Dental Instruments and Apparatus). Apple also owns the trademark for EarPod registered in Class 09(Computers, Software, Electronic instruments, & Scientific appliances). Although similar, it seems unlikely that customers will legitimately confuse a hearing aid with iPhone headphones. However, Randolph Divisions does own earpod.com.
Read More [via TNW]
The lawsuit, filed last week in the Hawaii District Court in Honolulu, revolves around the ‘HearPod’ trademark Randolph Divisions successfully registered back in late 2007. In the suit, Randolph Divisions alleges that Apple infringes on said trademark with its EarPods line of earbuds.
The Apple EarPods debuted on September 12, 2012 and shipped with the iPhone 5. You can check out the introductory video here.
Notably, Randolph Divisions owns the trademark for HearPod registered in Class 10 (Medical, Dental Instruments and Apparatus). Apple also owns the trademark for EarPod registered in Class 09(Computers, Software, Electronic instruments, & Scientific appliances). Although similar, it seems unlikely that customers will legitimately confuse a hearing aid with iPhone headphones. However, Randolph Divisions does own earpod.com.
Read More [via TNW]