Apple Inc. was sued by New York publisher John T. Colby in federal court today for trademark infringement over its use of the term iBooks, Colby bought in 2006 and 2007 the assets of various entities owned by New York publisher Byron Preiss, who had published more than 1,000 hardcover and paperback books under the ibooks name starting in September 1999. Colby’s suit acknowledges that Apple has a trademark for iBook related to its use on the personal computer, the Mac and did not begin to use the term to describe an electronic book or method for delivering electronic books until 2010……….
A New York book publisher has filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming that its use of the term iBook violates the publisher’s trademark, the second trademark infringement suit filed against the tech giant in less than a week. The publisher filed the suit in federal court , accusing Apple of trademark infringement for using the term ‘iBooks’ in reference to its electronic book store. Colby claims that the use of the term ‘iBooks’ in relation to an electronic library is infringing on his ability to use the ‘ibooks’ and ipicturebooks’ trademarks that he acquired, along with other assets, from another publisher, Byron Preiss, in 2006 and 2007. “Apple’s use of the mark ‘iBooks’ to denote the electronic library that can be accessed via its iPad tablet computer,” the lawsuit states, “and its iPhone is likely to overwhelm the good will of plaintiffs’ ‘ibooks’ and ‘ipicturebooks’ marks and render them virtually worthless.” Preiss had published over 1,000 hardcover and paperback books under the ‘ibooks’ name starting in 1999. Apple already owns the trademark to the term ‘IBOOK’ for computers and has sold several different models of iBook laptop computers. The lawsuit states that Apple had never used the term ‘iBooks’ as a designation for electronic publications or the delivery of books electronically until the iPad’s announcement in April, 2010.
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