Apple and Adobe Bully Small Businesses Over Name Rights

Techwriter10 0 678 Views

Nothing's wrong as far as I can see
We make it harder than it has to be
and I can't tell you why
~Eagles, I Can’t Tell You Why.

Apple and Adobe have both gotten some press lately for going to the trademark police after a couple of small business people had the audacity to publicize their products by including corporate trademarks in their business name. First there was the case of Apple going after The iPod Mechanic as reported by my colleague Davey Winder (aka Happy Geek) in his Inside Edge blog. Now comes news from ReadWriteWeb that Adobe is going after a guy for setting up a web site called FreshAIRapps, which apparently violates the sanctity of the Adobe AIR (all caps) trademark. Enough is enough.

These companies fail to understand there is a bright line between a trademark violation and using the trademark in a legitimate fashion to promote a business that’s a natural off-shoot of the brand. Perhaps if the two site owners had actually pretended to be representing the companies in question, Adobe and Apple might have a genuine beef here, but all indications are they didn’t. They simply honored the products involved by including the names of the products they were working with. The iPod Mechanic fixes iPods. Imagine that. FreshAIRapps provides a site for AIR developers to show case their AIR Apps. Nothing wrong with that as far as I can see, but apparently Adobe doesn’t see it that way, perhaps because it competes with its own AIR Apps site as Corvida speculates on the ReadWriteWeb blog. If that’s the case, it’s called competition. Deal with it.

Or maybe it’s just another case of an overactive legal department with nothing better to do than go after little guys who have few resources and clearly can’t fight back. Sure, these examples are both technically violations of the rules, but is it really necessary for the legal team of a multi-million dollar company to go after these guys in this fashion? Do they not have anything better to do than harass a small business trying to make an honest buck? In fact, the AIR case clearly seems to be a case of the lawyers run amok as the site owner reports on this Home page that the Adobe AIR evangelists are actually on his side.

Steve Jobs might be all that now, but back in the day, he was just another pimple-faced geek with a dream working in a garage trying to design a new desktop computer. These companies should really be ashamed of themselves. This is petty and it needs to stop. If you get a real trademark violation, deal with it. Until then, call off the dogs.

Dani AI

Generated

Short, practical primer for small sites that get trademark letters from big companies — what the law actually says, quick triage steps, and low-cost fixes that often end the fight without a lawsuit.

Federal trademark law protects marks used to identify the source of goods or services; registration strengthens nationwide rights but does not create infinite control over ordinary words. https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/what-trademark

A recognized defense is nominative fair use: using a trademark only to refer to the trademarked product (for example, to describe compatibility or review a product). Courts apply a three-part test (the product must be hard to identify without the mark; use only what’s necessary; do nothing to imply sponsorship). It’s a defense, not a guarantee. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/971/302/72076/

Immediate checklist (practical, low-cost steps):

  • Preserve everything: save the letter/email, server logs, screenshots and WHOIS/archived pages.
  • Don’t admit liability or destroy evidence; ask for written proof of the specific claim and the owner’s registration/first-use dates.
  • Run a quick federal search (TESS) to see registered marks, and Google for common‑law use; a federal search helps frame negotiations. https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/trademark-process
  • If negotiation is feasible, propose simple remedies (rename the site, change the domain, add a clear “independent” disclaimer, or offer a short grace period to rebrand). If the owner files a domain complaint, the UDRP/ICANN process can transfer domains — hyphens or small tweaks rarely avoid a claim. https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/

A final note: as observed, over‑zealous enforcement creates PR risk; many brand‑holders now weigh publicity consequences before suing. Thoughtful, documented responses and reasonable offers to fix usage usually stop the problem without court. https://www.mbhb.com/intelligence/snippets/build-your-brand-without-bullying/

This is general information, not legal advice; consider a short consult with an IP lawyer if a demand letter threatens revenue or registration.

Member Avatar for blueclock
blueclock 0 Newbie Poster

People writing about AIR can quite easily promote other RIA platforms on their sites just by registering a version of their domain with RIA in it instead of AIR.

He could change his domain name to freshRIAapps and not just focus solely on adobe air RIAs.

OK so he's monitised his site and is making a bit of money off the back of AIR, but he's also spreading the download of the AIR runtime and getting other developers on board.

There are probably very few people at Adobe that back this decision.

Member Avatar for Techwriter10
Techwriter10 42 Practically a Posting Shark

Thanks for the post and I agree completely. It's a simple fix and it's strictly the lawyers going after this guy. As I wrote, he stated on his Home page that the AIR evangelists are on his side. But a move like this makes Adobe look bad and it's really completely unnecessary. I actually use a few AIR apps and I like them very much. I have plans to write about them at some point, but when Adobe pulls a stunt like this, it's hard to ignore.

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