Apple, CBS, Man & Machine involved in Mighty Mouse lawsuit
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
May 21, 2008 at 11:21am
Another day, another lawsuit. Apple and CBS Corp. have been sued for trademark infringement by Man & Machine, a computer accessory firm over the name of the Mighty Mouse, an Apple computer mouse (shown at left).
Bloomberg reports that Apple started selling computer mice under the name Mighty Mouse’ more than a year after Man & Machine began selling waterproof and chemical-resistant computer mice (shown below) to labs and hospitals under that name in 2004. According to the suit—filed Tuesday in Greenbelt, Maryland—the company claims its earlier use trumps Apple’s, even though Apple sells more products. 
The names of both products are a play on the 1942 animated superhero mouse, Mighty Mouse, whose trademark rights are owned by CBS. Man & Machine accuses CBS of licensing “Mighty Mouse’’ to Apple for computer devices when its trademark doesn’t cover such goods.
Man & Machine and CBS both hold trademark applications for the term and are challenging each other for approval at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to Bloomberg. Man & Machine says it began using the name earlier than CBS and is seeking money damages and a court order blocking Apple’s use of Mighty Mouse’ to sell computer devices.
By the way, Unsanity Software also makes a product called Mighty Mouse. The software allows you to customize your cursors with style on Mac OS X.
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Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
pbGuy Says:
Nuisance law suits are the bane of U.S. corporate business. And, Unsanity doesn’t have deep enough pockets to merit attention from Man & Machine’s lawyers since such suits are all about cash.
The only way nuisance suits will go away is when legal costs are paid by the loser of the suit.
Posted on May 21, 2008