It's ironic that companies in the same industry don't know much about their counterparts, simply because they don't compete directly against them. Take Apple Computer Inc. and Microware Systems Corp. Here is the also-ran personal computer company, which gave the industry all the needed enabling technologies to get it going and then sat back to let the more popular open IBM PC architecture eat their cake. All along, Apple has improved its Mac operating system to the version recently unleashed as Mac OS 9.
But isn't OS 9 a familiar real-time operating system in the embedded space, developed by Des Moines, Iowa-based Microware? No, that's the OS-9, with a hyphen. Everybody knows that, right?
Well, Microware wanted to make sure, and has started legal action against Apple, claiming that Apple's OS 9 will cause confusion. Since OS-9 is in embedded devices like cable TV set-top boxes, consumer electronics devices and factory automation systems, Microware might justifiably be considered out of bounds in arguing its concerns about the Mac. Never, surely, will the twain ever meet. Macs are for students, artists and desktop publishers, and the underlying OS 9 is germane only to Mac users. OS-9 from Microware, on the other hand, is hidden in embedded designs, and has potentially a much broader reach into information appliances for the Internet. No confusion, right?
I guess that Microware's concerns stem from what it sees as a growing public awareness of goods and services sold on the Internet, from PCs (Apple's end products) to smart appliances (Microware customers' goods). The Patent Office decides "whether there would be likelihood of confusion, that is, whether relevant consumers would be likely to associate the goods or services of one party with those of the other." That was easier before the Internet became a distribution channel-when a hyphen was enough of a distinguishing feature.
But because of the Web's increasing influence on the selling of technologies, Apple's marketeers need to be aware of Microware's products. With the Web, there is more room for confusion among "relevant consumers," who-once removed by geographic distance-are now only mouse clicks away from either company. The Web is forcing companies to know not only their current competition, but who the next potential competitor might be. That knowledge is forced on us by the need for branding-the idea that a company's intellectual property and reputation are tightly wrapped around a unique, recognizable name.
Before a product goes out the door, it might pay to search the Web for a unique and highly distinguishable name. That should alleviate the need to settle trademark differences.
Nicolas Mokhoff is Editor, Special Issues, at EE Times and Executive Producer, EDTN Tech Zones.
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