Apple’s Insistence That It Owns The Word “Pod” Creates A Legal Quandary For Software Makers

Apple Computer may be willing to spend big bucks to find out in court.

The company has stunned a start up company in the U.S. with a letter asking it to stop using the term ‘podcast’, claiming it owns the right to the word.

The dispute began when a Houston firm called Podcast Ready created a free software download for computer users called MyPodder, which allows them to automatically update their podcast.

The program often ships pre-installed on some mobile devices with a sticker that reads “Podcast Ready”.

And that seems to have upset the Apple cart.

Lawyers for the company claim using the word “Podcast” infringes on its copyright and the computer giant is ready to go to court to argue that it owns the moniker and that no one can use it without its permission.

Millions of firms worldwide already do, and the word appears in many dictionaries as a common term that means a broadcast made especially for an MP3 player.

“Apple is concerned that certain uses of ‘Podcast Ready’ and ‘MyPodder’ by your clients is likely to confuse consumers into mistakenly believing Apple is associated with your clients’ products and services,” a letter from its lawyers contends.

Another claim made in the warning is surprising. “The term “POD” has been adopted and used extensively in the marketplace by consumers as an abbreviation to refer to the Apple’s IPOD player,” it reads.

But critics respond almost no one calls the player a ‘pod’.

It’s not the first time Apple has gone after companies for the use of the word. But executives with Podcast Ready have made an issue of it, insisting they can’t understand the nature of the objections.

They’ve been given until October 5th to respond, but plan to release their software on Thursday as scheduled.

Apple is caught in a dilemma that other companies have long faced.

Kleenex is a brand name, yet has become a generic word for tissue.

Xerox means copies, even if you don’t use that firm’s machines. 

Roller Blades refer to a specific type of skate, but has come to mean all of them.

And modern day wordsmiths know what it means to ‘Google’ someone.

So the question remains: can you copyright a word that has become a de facto generic term?

The answer may someday await one more word – the one emanating from a still unassigned judge in an unknown courtroom.