The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has denied an application for a trademark on the term Multi-Touch. The application was submitted by Apple, however, the term is too common to be trademarked for the sole use of Apple. The application was submitted by Apple in way back in 2007, right around the time the first iPhone was introduced. So this fight has been going on for more than four years now. The examining attorney at the USPTO first refused it saying the term is merely descriptive and Apple took it to the appeal board. The board has now upheld that refusal in a decision dated September 23rd.
Apple tried to argue that Multi-Touch has acquired a distinctive meaning because of the iPhone, but the board didnt buy it. According to the ruling, “multi-touch” not only identifies the technology, but also describes how a user of the goods operates the device. The board also said that simply because the applied-for term has been used in association with a highly successful product does not mean the term has acquired distinctiveness. Well, thats true. Today the term is used everywhere to describe touchscreens on Android phones, tablets and notebooks. So if you were wondering, everybody else in the industry can keep saying multi touch without any worry. Good news for everyone except Apple !!
Partly reconstructed with AI. This post’s full text was lost when the site went offline. Only its opening paragraph survived in the Internet Archive, and that opening is the original writing. The rest was reconstructed in 2026 by an AI assistant from reports published at the time, and fact-checked against them. Sources used: macrumors.com, apple.slashdot.org, rimonlaw.com, phonesreview.co.uk, mandourlaw.com.
