Though Apple opted to simply call the latest iPad “the new iPad,” that hasn’t stopped most people from dubbing it the iPad 3. While Apple will never call it the iPad 3, the company recognizes that many people out there use the name and has moved to seize the iPad3.com domain from a company named Global Access in Isle of Man, who has owned the domain since January 2010.
Global Access is a company that squats on domain names and attempts to sell them to make money. Last week, Apple filed a case with the World Intellectual Property Organization under the uniform domain name dispute resolution policy in an attempt to have the WIPO transfer the iPad3.com domain to Apple, who own the trademark to the iPad name. Global Access has been around the block with domain name fights, having lost similar claims to Allstate, AOL, and MasterCard, among others. We expect the Apple dispute to resolve in a similar fashion, as the company clearly owns the rights to the iPad name.
It’s unclear at this time what Apple wants to do with the iPad3.com domain, though it’ll most likely surface as a redirect to Apple’s iPad landing page.
Apple has several similar battles coming down the pike, as people have been buying the iPad#.com domains like crazy, with at least up to iPad25.com being registered and squatted. Moreover, Apple does not even own iPad.com, though that domain will likely cost Apple some significant cash should they ever choose to obtain it; the individual or group that owns the iPad.com domain is not technically squatting on the site.
[via Domain Name Wire]