MySpace Pips Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to Music app Patent

Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL), as we know, is paranoid about its intellectual property rights and makes sure that anything it makes or does is patented or trademarked so that it can sue anyone else who tries to copy them.

However this time it has been quick off the mark. Its attempts to patent its Music app icon have been stymied by MySpace that has already trademarked a similar icon for its music app.

Though the two apps have the musical note on an orange background as their icon, it can be quickly differentiated from one another even at a cursory glance since the perspectives are different.

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However the judges, who allow the trademarks, felt that the icon filed by Apple was too similar to that of MySpace and have disallowed it.

The judges made this report: In view of the facts that the marks are similar, the goods and services are related and are encountered by the same classes of consumers, we find that applicant’s double musical note and design for “computer software [..]” is likely to cause confusion with the registered mark comprising a double musical note and design [..] for listening to MP3’s and for sharing MP3’s and music playlists with others.

Social networking site MySpace had obtained the logo when it bought music service iLike, the original owner of the icon.

Apple killed off its iPod app on its iPhone and replaced it with the Music app, separating music and videos into standalone apps.