<div><div style="float:right;margin-bottom:10px;"><a  href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?text=sdasdasd&url=http://mashable.com/2011/09/27/apple-denied-trademark-for-multi-touch-by-patent-office/"><img style="border:none;margin-right:5px;" src="http://5.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/share-buttons/stumbleupon.png" align="right" /></a>
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<a  href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://mashable.com/2011/09/27/apple-denied-trademark-for-multi-touch-by-patent-office/&service=bit.ly&source=mashable"><img style="border:none;margin-right:5px;" width="51" height="61" src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://mashable.com/2011/09/27/apple-denied-trademark-for-multi-touch-by-patent-office/" align="right"/></a></div><div style="float:left;margin-bottom:10px;"><img src="http://5.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/apple_patent.jpg" alt="apple_patent" title="apple_patent" class="alignright size-full wp-image-150105" height="190" width="260"></div><div style="clear:both;"></div></div><br/>Here's a term Apple will have no dominion over: "multi-touch". 

Apple originally applied for the trademark on Jan. 9, 2007, (the day when <a href="http://mashable.com/category/iphone/">iPhone</a> was announced), but the United States Patent and Trademark Office decided that the term was too broad. 

After Apple's appeal, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board upheld the original decision. From the <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/66447722/Multi-Touch-Trademark" >decision</a>:

"The examining attorney maintains that “multi-touch” is“highly descriptive” and identifies a type of touchscreen interface which “allows a user to manipulate and control the functions of an electronic device by using more than one finger simultaneously. ... Again, simply because the applied-for term has been used in association with a highly successful product does not mean the term has acquired distinctiveness."

This comes as no surprise as the term multi-touch was used in the pre-iPhone era. For example, <a href="http://9to5mac.com/2011/09/26/apple-has-been-denied-the-multi-touch-trademark-by-patent-office/" >9to5Mac</a> points to a <a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1095054" >paper</a> by Jeff Han that uses the term in 2005. 

[via <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/2011/09/26/apple-denied-trademark-for-multi-touch/" ><em>MacRumors</em></a>]<p style="margin-top:10px;"><i>For more <a href="http://mashable.com/business/">Business</a> coverage:</i><ul style="margin-top:0;" class="xoxo"><li><a href="http://twitter.com/mashbusiness"  rel="nofollow">Follow Mashable Business on Twitter</a></li><li><a href="http://www.facebook.com/mashable.business"  rel="nofollow">Become a Fan on Facebook</a></li><li><a href="http://feeds.mashable.com/mashable/business"  rel="nofollow">Subscribe to the Business channel</a></li><li>Download our free apps for <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/08/02/mashable-android-app/" rel="nofollow">Android</a>, <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable-for-mac/id412390413?mt=12" rel="nofollow">Mac</a>, <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable/id356202138?mt=8"  rel="nofollow">iPhone</a> and <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable-for-ipad/id370097986?mt=8"  rel="nofollow">iPad</a></li></ul></p>
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