« Droid Phone Naming: An Irresistible Force for iPhone Owners | Main | Brand Naming Grotesque and Painful »

October 21, 2009

Apple's Mighty Mouse Product Naming Gives Way to Fantastic Magic Mouse

So Apple has a new mouse that is called the Magic Mouse that "is basically a mouse-shaped trackpad that accepts Multi-Touch input, so users can now use combinations of multi-finger swipes and taps to navigate their Mac and perform basic functions."

The Mighty Mouse brand name that was on the former incarnations of this product is no longer in use thanks to the fact that Apple lost a trademark infringement lawsuit to hardware maker Man & Machine.

Apple had licensed the name from CBS, who owned the trademark for Mighty Mouse, the tiny superhero we all grew up with, but because the Mighty Mouse they own was a flying animated character and not a computer peripheral, their licensing deal fell flat.

Engadget has the whole story in some detail as well as pictures of the (computer) mice in question.

Man & Machine have sold a line of mice that are "rugged, hygienic, waterproof" for over five years now and celebrated their win earlier this year with the following statement:

Others have used the name Mighty Mouse for their computer mice and have sought registration of that trademark, but now the United States government has spoken.

I like the Magic Mouse name but I am surely not the only one who thinks of yet another famous mouse wearing his wizard's garments from Fantasia when I hear it.

Technorati Tags: Magic Mouse, Apple's Magic Mouse, Mighty Mouse,Man & Machine, Mickey Mouse, Fantasia

Posted by William Lozito at October 21, 2009 8:32 AM
Posted to Brand Naming | Branding | Consumer Electronics | Industry | Licensing | Naming | Naming Rights | Product Naming | Technology

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.namedevelopment.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/4532