While Apple continues its efforts to register the “iWatch” trademark worldwide, it may run into a roadblock in the United Kingdom, and even its own home country, the United States.
In the U.S., the iWatch trademark is owned by a small Californian company called OMG Electronics, which is currently trying to raise funds to launch a product under this name, Macworld reports. The company has already launched an Indiegogo project for the device, but it only managed to raise $1,434 in crowdsource funding.
In the U.K., iWatch is claimed by Probendi Inc., which holds what is called a “community trademark” on the name. That means Probendi doesn’t just have rights to iWatch in the U.K., but across the rest of the European Union as well.
Probendi seems to be a bit of an enigma. The network services firm uses the iWatch brand for a smartphone app which “sends real-time audio, video and location data to the Critical Governance platform.”
For purposes of the trademark, the company has an Italian address, yet its website suggests the company is actually located in Delaware in the U.S., and a company brochure says it’s trading in Bogota, Columbia.
Since OMG Electronics failed in their funding attempt, they may be receptive to any overtures Apple may make for ownership of the iWatch moniker. However, Probendi has held the iWatch trademark since 2008, and is actively using it, so they don’t appear to be trademark squatters, and it may cost Apple a bit of cash to mollify them if Apple goes ahead with the iWatch name for its rumored smart watch.
