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A tags-eye view of Apple's changing technology focus

What's in a trademark? More than you might think. After crunching 10 years worth of Apple trademark filings, a consultant group offers the community a dynamic view on Cupertino's shifting strategic focus.
Written by David Morgenstern, Contributor

What's in a trademark? More than you might think. After crunching 10 years worth of Apple trademark filings, a consultant group offers the community a dynamic view on Cupertino's shifting strategic focus.

Posted in the Ci Sense company blog is widget that presents a tag cloud view of Apple's trademarks from the past 10 years. a Montreal-based trademark consultancy,

We grabbed the descriptions for each trademark, removed the stop words and produced this tag cloud. The technical term in the trademark filing is actually ‘goods and services,’ but essentially it’s a description of the trademark's intent.

Different directions in content editing and distribution appear and then disappear. The Montreal-based group points out that CD-ROM and multimedia disappear immediately. Video comes and goes and comes back strong. As do different tags for audio and mobility.

Very interesting.

Of course, as Apple fans know, they can be rather cagey when filing their trademarks. In 2006, they alledgedly filed a trademark for iPhone in Trinidad and Tobago using a front company called Ocean Telecom Services. And, of course, they like to file trademarks on the opening of MacWorld. Very cheeky.

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