Apple expands its trademarks to cover vehicles

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By Larry Banks

After all the rumours about Apple and its car-related projects, it’s been discovered that the Cupertino-based company has expanded its trademark of the Apple name and logo in Switzerland to include vehicles, a move which is gaining attention across the Internet today.

Apple expands trademarks to cars

The expansion also took place in Mexico on the same date last month, and so is fuelling a fire about Apple’s plans in the automotive industry. It’s not really a new development however, as there have been various other Apple trademark applications over the years which have included protection under International Class 12 which is designed to cover vehicles and accessories. A European Union filing from 2003 also describes a vehicle related trademark, and there have been others filed in the UK last year.

Apple Car

Every trademark filing seems to cover the same basics – in terms of mentioning various vehicle types and vehicle-related gadgets/devices that could be covered.

Vehicles; Apparatus for locomotion by land, air or water; electronic hardware components for motor vehicles, rail cars and locomotives, ships and aircraft; Anti-theft devices; Theft alarms for vehicles; Bicycles; Golf carts; Wheelchairs; Air pumps; Motorcycles; Aftermarket parts (after-market parts) and accessories for the aforesaid goods.

Unfortunately, trademark filings often cover as broad a base as possible in order to maximise the protection that they afford. That makes it almost impossible to determine whether the new vehicle-related filings really do relate to the much-rumoured Apple Car or just something like CarPlay. Apple also has “iPhone,” “Mac,” and “iPod” trademark protection under Class 12 in several countries.

The Mexican and Swiss filings have come just after the huge number of rumours about Apple’s car ambitions after a vehicle leased to Apple was seen in San Francisco, as well as other locations such as Hawaii. Other news such as Apple hiring Tesla employees have led many to believe that the vans are related to Apple’s electric car project, but they are in fact more likely to be related to improvements in Apple Maps software which is said to gain a Google Streeview-like feature.

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