Apple wins the right to continue using the name Tiger

Apple was sued by the computer retailer Tiger Direct asking the court to direct Apple from stop using Tiger name for their recently launched Operating System. however, they lost in their first attempt as a Florida Judge ruled doing so would harm Apple more than what it does to Tiger Direct’s business if Apple continues to use Tiger name.

The original plea was a complete ban of usage of the word Tiger. However, in the later stages they went back slightly by appealing to stop using the word in relation to the OS X Operating System. The claim from the computer maker was that the usage of the brand name Tiger by Apple caused confusion for the end consumer.

Apple on their part had argued that they did not pick up the name Tiger for the next version of their Operating System with any plans to exploit Tiger Direct’s reputation. They also referred to the fact that they have been using similar Cat Family species names like Jaguar and Panther for similar releases in the past. A survey submitted by the Macintosh maker also claimed that only 6% of the consumers linked the keyword Tiger with the computer retailing chain.

Tiger Direct also interestingly failed to prove that they held a legal trademark on the term Tiger for usage on computer goods. Apple on the other hand had registered this keyword way back in 2003. Judge Joan Lenard of the Florida court said in the statement: “Turning to the overall impression created by the marks, in the context of each party’s use thereof, the Court finds that the marks are distinctly different. Any given customer who cross-shops Tiger Direct and Apple, whether over the Internet or in person at their retail local stores, will be able to distinguish their respective retail outlets due to the distinctive differences in their marketplaces’ appearance and messages.’