Apple vs. Atico

One of these days, I was thinking about Apple's policy regarding its name and related products. What if, one fine day, after eating an apple, I get called to a lawsuit for some "apple infringement," being accused of...something, I can't tell exactly what that could be. Fortunately, I am just kidding, because this won't ever happen. Anyway, it's interesting to see that, after being the target of various lawsuits for a long time, Apple starts attacking others in the court of law too, and this time, it's about Atico International.

Who is Atico International, that's not really important. If the name sounds like something new, then it's enough to say they are into the iPod accessories industry. So...what did they do wrong, after all?

According to Apple, they infringed on some of their iPod-related patents, including the ones related to the Universal Dock, three dock adapters, as well as all the patents related to remote controls. Even more, they are accused of trademark infringements involving the iPod mark and image, with the most important part being the "Made for iPod" trademark, since it is said Atico was operating outside the official program related to this.

For now, no judge has been asigned to the case yet, so we'll surely hear about this trial again in the future.