iLounge

By Charles Starrett

Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Monday, December 28, 2009
News Category: Apple

New evidence of trademark and domain name acquisitions by Apple suggest the company may be planning to use the name iSlate for its rumored tablet device. MacRumors found evidence from late 2007 that Apple has acquired the domain name “iSlate.com” through MarkMonitor, a firm that handles domain name registrations and trademark protections for many different companies, including Apple. TechCrunch then discovered iSlate trademark filings in the United States and European Union by a company named Slate Computing. Curiously, the same report notes that the European filing lists U.K.-based firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge as a legal representative, the same firm that helped Apple secure the EU trademark for the term “MacBook.” Finally, Mac Rumors found further evidence linking Slate Computing to Apple, as the trademark application documents list Regina Porter as the signatory; a person with the same name is also a Senior Trademark Specialist with Apple, according to her Linkedin profile. Notably, however, companies do acquire domain names for potential product titles that are not used, so regardless of Apple’s ownership of any domain, its tablet device may carry a different moniker. Apple has reportedly scheduled a special press event on Jan. 26 to be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.