AppleInsider StaffDuring the telecast of the 85th annual Oscar Academy Awards on Sunday, Apple aired a new iPad ad highlighting a few iOS apps tailored specifically for the company's tablet lineup.
Titled "Hollywood," Apple newest commercial is a continuation of the new ad style seen in the company's most recent "Alive" and "Together" iPad TV spots.
Just as the two advertisements before it, Sunday's commercial focused on the three keywords to spotlight some of the 300,000 apps made especially for iPad users. Using the words "Lights," "Camera" and "Action," Apple showcased iPad versions of iMovie, Pinterest, Instant: The Polaroid Instant Photos, Apple Maps and Action Movie FX, among clips from well-known movies.
Apple appears to be taking a new tack with its iPad spots, playing more on the massive assets of the iOS App Store than touting hardware capabilities. The latest iPad ads are a departure from the sometimes subdued commercials the company puts out for other products like the iPhone, and instead lean toward the classic iPod spots from years past.
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Apple appears to be taking a new tack with its iPad spots, playing more on the massive assets of the iOS App Store than touting hardware capabilities.
It seems to me that Apple has always spent more time showcasing apps than hardware.
It's even been pointed out by judges as one of the problems claiming iPad trade dress... Apple has done almost zero advertising about the shape, hardware, packaging, etc. Trade dress requires a company to make an effort pointing out such details.
(For example, Prestone lost a seemingly open-and-shut trade dress case against a little hometown company that sold their own antifreeze in similar shaped yellow containers. They lost because none of their ads had ever mentioned the container shape or color, but had only talked about how good the product inside was. If their ads had ever said something like, "Look for our familiar yellow jug", they'd have won.)
It's even been pointed out by judges as one of the problems claiming iPad trade dress... Apple has done almost zero advertising about the shape, hardware, packaging, etc. Trade dress requires a company to make an effort pointing out such details.
Why? (also, the first iPad ad ever) It doesn't look like that's a requirement, just an option.
Why? (also, the first iPad ad ever) It doesn't look like that's a requirement, just an option.
Legally, not an absolute requirement. In real life, detailing the amount and type of advertising is usually #1 on the list of what a court wants to see as one of the three legs for proving trade dress infringement.
Distinctiveness and/or secondary meaning. Is the design unique? Was it used distinctively for a long time? Do people only associate the design with a particular company? How much advertising did the company do about the design? (Classic example of these is the Coke bottle shape.)
This requirement is why Apple revealed their advertising budget in that last big trial.
Non-functionality. The design has to be merely ornamental. If a design is required for a certain type of product to be functional, or it greatly affects the cost to make it a different way, then you cannot protect that design. For example, some courts have considered rounded corners to be functional, whereas Apple has asserted that they are not.
This requirement is also considered the reason why Apple shipped iPads with only four icons showing in the dock, even if it looks strange to waste so much space. They do it to try to back up their legal assertion that showing four icons is an "ornamental" choice and not just functionally related to screen size. (e.g. in phones).
Likelihood of confusion. This is the last leg, considered only after the first two pass. Would a normal customer, exercising normal care, be confused? (People don't buy based on power plugs, nor do they usually get to take a package off the shelf in the case of phones and tablets.) Can you prove cases of actual confusion? (Not just a salesperson pushing the competition.) Is there a prominent brand name? (Excedrin PM sued Tylonel PM for using the same suffix and packaging. Court ruled that the brand names Excedrin and Tylonel were so well known that they took precedence in avoiding confusion.)
It sounds easier than it is. So far, Apple has not won any cases over iPad trade dress. Even the California $1B jury found against infringement. That's partly why Apple is switching to all utility patents in the next trial.
Great commercials. You sell they value and the value is what you can do with it. Simple, understandable, made the iPad look like a fun magical device. There were also Samsung commercials during the Oscars for the Note II. They were incomprehensible. Something about an office of a video game company making a game called Unicorn Apocalypse and Tim Burton was going to make a movie about the game that they just made? I have no idea, it was impossible to follow and had nothing to do with the phone at all. All I know about the phone is that you can draw on photos.
Great commercials! ipad looks awesome in commercials.