Another day, another Apple lawsuit, although now they are on the receiving end. Last week Randolph Divisions and Hearpod Inc. filed the paperwork stating that Apple’s “Earpods” is infringing on their “Hearpods” trademark.
The company manufactures the Hearpods and they are hearing aids, which was trademarked since February 2005. That was quite awhile ago, therefore removing any doubt who came up with the name first. The lawsuit reads:
“Both Plaintiffs’ Goods and Defendant’s Goods are similar in nature in that, among other things, they are inserted into the ears of their users and are used to facilitate and enhance the transmission of sounds to the users.”
They are seeking that Apple not only pay damages, but also cease selling its Earpods earphones. Hearpod Inc. is disclosing that they’ve spent $625,000 promoting their product that has resulted in $1.7 million in sales so far. The Earpods are the first time Apple has branded earphones, which were introduced along with the iPhone 5. Interesting to note that this isn’t the first time Apple has received legal action against their earphones. Those included previous allegations of patent infringement of audio transfer techniques and another claim of the volume being too loud, which led to a software limiter being implemented.
It was only a matter of time before they were sued for this headphone issue. They went overboard with this issue, design and advertisement.