I’ve been a loyal, satisfied Apple Computer user for 20 years. I first bought a Mac Plus in late 1986 or early 1987 in order to work on a Ph.D. dissertation. I always thought they were the computer company “for the rest of us,” as they used to say.
But now it seems as though they’re just one of the big boys.
They’ve sent PodcastReady a cease and desist letter instructing them to stop using the word “podcast” in their business name.
Wha?
The word podcast entered the New Oxford American Dictionary last year. It was named the “word of the year” by Oxford University Press. It’s been around for two years. It is now accepted as the word designating an independently-produced audio made available for downloading on the internet.
Now Apple says it’s their word. I guess maybe they have their reasons, but this really looks like hubris to me.
The Apple iTunes Music Store, of course, has a whole division devoted to “podcasts,” but now, apparently, it’s only okay to call them that if you are using the iTunes Music Store to find them.
Ridiculous. I may mention something about this in the podcast–uh oh, I mean independent audio production–I do later on today.
I think Apple may be surprised at the breadth of negative response about this. My own podc…independent internet audio show has several thousand listeners who are NOT podcasting geeks. However, they all use the word “podcast” to refer to these things. I heard the word used at a high school back-to-school night earlier this week, by a non-geek French teacher who plans to use them in class. “Podcast” is what they’re called. We’ve had this discussion for the past two years, and we’ve all agreed that the train pulled out of the station in the fall of 2004.
So if we don’t call them podcasts, what do we call them?
(If you’re a blogger, please blog about this. Apple pays attention to the blogosphere.)
Dave, I did not know about this! It’s outrageous. I too, as you know am a loyal Apple customer and fan. I think they need to take their legal team out back and fire them. Apple has always been ‘the good guy’ and Microsoft the bad. hate to see Apple join the bully club. Dave, I’m sporting the Wired story you linked to as my current no. 1 on my Digg profile. My friends and friends’ friends will surely find out about this.
Glad to see you blogging again!
Hi Dave,
If you have been an Apple fan for 20 years (as I have been, too) I’m kind of surprised that this is the first Apple legal story to really upset you. They’ve done plenty of contempt-worthy stuff in the past, including threatening the guy behind the Apple rumors site Think Secret.
It’s a damned shame that Apple legal acts the way they do, but Apple as a whole is still a fine company, especially compared to the alternatives. On some level I have to blame the state of intellectual property law in the USA; it’s not conducive to being successful and kind at the same time.
Having read the letter itself, (http://blog.wired.com/music/index.blog?entry_id=1562695) I find it a little hard to see what all the fuss is about. If someone started a business in competition with PodcastReady, called, say, PodcastReadier and tried to trademark it, PodcastReady might have something to say about it. (Try saying that fast) Also, to quote the letter: “Apple, of course, has no general objection to proper use of the descriptive term ‘podcast’ as part of a trademark for goods and services offered in the podcasting field”