Apple files for Podcasting trademark

In what could be construed as its latest attempt to make Podcasting proprietary, Apple this month filed for a trademark on the term "iPodcast."

On Sept. 4th the iPod maker made two filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the iPodcast trademark, both of which are awaiting the assignment of an examining attorney.

The first filing seeks a trademark on the term iPodcast, which covers hardware-related goods, namely "computers, computer peripherals, hand held computers, computer terminals, personal digital assistants, electronic organizers, electronic notepads, apparatus for recording, transmission and reproduction of sounds, images, or other data; magnetic data carriers."

A second filing requests that the iPodcast trademark cover services, including "telecommunications services; communication by computer, computer intercommunication; telex, telegram and telephone services; rental, hire and leasing of communications apparatus and of electronic mailboxes; electronic bulletin board services," etc.

Earlier this year, the RSS community chastised Apple for creating proprietary tags within the document type definition (DTD) it released to support Podcasting in iTunes 4.9. Reports suggested that move was "part of an unsupported effort to make the iTunes DTD proprietary, and a Podcast's inclusion in the iTunes catalog exclusive to Apple."

Already Apple's iTunes music store is destine to become the Internet's premier Podcast resource. It currently features over 15,000 podcasts, with approximately 1000 podcasts being added each week.

So far Apple has yet to use the term iPodcast amongst its music products.