A picture is said to say a thousand words, and ironically that is almost literally and exactly true when it comes to Apple’s focus on non-verbal icon branding.

A week before the 4th of July, Apple filed these three non-verbal trademark applications:

A
B

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Wine connoisseurs have been pairing food with their wines for  centuries (okay, I’m guessing here, but it is probably a long time), paying close attention to all of the subtleties of the flavor, hints of oak, acidity, and other features. With the explosion of craft beers in the United States, we can now do the

Debbie Laskey and Ward Schendel

We all learn a great deal from DuetsBlog and the legal and marketing community assembled by Steve Baird and his team.  As guest bloggers on DuetsBlog, we, Debbie Laskey and Ward Schendel, recently had a conversation about the importance of strategic planning and decided to collaborate on a joint

–Dan Kelly, Attorney

Let’s review:

  • From 1978 through 2007, Apple was in on-again, off-again trademark litigation with Apple Corps, holder of rights in The Beatles’ music and record label, over use of the APPLE trademark in connection with numerous music-related aspects of various Apple products and services, including iTunes.
  • In 2007, Apple introduced its iPhone

On April 15, Apple launched a massive suit against Samsung alleging various counts of patent and trademark infringement arising from Samsung’s Galaxy line of products. (The Complaint is here.)

While the lawsuit involved claims of trade dress infringement and patent infringement, I was most interested in the trade dress aspects of the case.  Of particular interest

—Mark Prus, Marketing Consultant at NameFlashSM

Like many professional name developers, I opened 2010 by making fun of the Apple iPad name. Steve Jobs gave a strong case for naming the “tablet pc” in a way that was consistent with previous Apple naming conventions (iPod, iTunes, iPhone), but many of us poked fun at

—Dave Taylor, Taylor Brand Group

Think of your favorite brands of clothing, beverages, restaurants, or insurance–any product or service you like and purchase. You could probably name two brands or more in every category in addition to competitive brands that you’ve chosen not to buy, or haven’t bothered to try. Take a little bit of

—Andrew Miller, Intern, Fast Horse Inc.

In terms of name recognition, PING is to golf what Louisville Slugger is to baseball, so you’re right if you found it odd Apple would name its new music-based social network, of all things, Ping.

Apple is no stranger to trademark litigation after wrangling with Cisco (“iPhone”) and