A Florida judge has denied a request by e-commerce provider Tiger Direct for a temporary restraining order and injunction against Apple "to stop further damage to Tiger Direct's well-known Tiger brand."
Apple is using the name 'Tiger' as part of the identity of Mac OS X 10.4. Tiger Direct has used the name since 1986, but an Apple survey presented to the courts showed that only four of a 517-person sample poll associated the word Tiger with any specific company.
The lawsuit alleged that Apple had infringed a Tiger Direct's trademark, but the judge responded that: "There is greater risk of damage to Apple from granting the injunction than any potential harm to TigerDirect from Apple's use of Tiger marks."
The ruling was part of a 56 page opinion handed down on May 11th by Judge Joan Lenard of the United States District Court for the District of Florida. TigerDirect's original motion for a preliminary injunction asked the court to ban Apple totally from using the term "Tiger", something that could have halted Apple's roll-out of the Mac OS X 10.4 operating system.
Tiger Direct told the court that Apple could still use previously paid-for advertising and promotion materials, but asked that the company should cease from using the Tiger mark anywhere on its web site or in any new advertising, signage, or packing; except when pertaining specifically to Mac OS X 10.4.
Apple disputed that its own use of 'Tiger' is confusingly similar to TigerDirect's use and provided evidence of over 200 federal registrations of marks containing the term "Tiger", including 24 companies, other than TigerDirect, which employ Tiger marks to promote computer products and services.
"Turning to the overall impression created by the marks, in the context of each party's use thereof, the Court finds that the marks are distinctly different," Judge Lenard wrote in her opinion. She said Tiger marks are frequent in the computer industry and that she saw no evidence that Apple adopted the Tiger name in bad faith or that it has caused any confusion in the market place.
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