Apple seizes, blanks iPhone 5 message board.
You may recall a couple weeks ago when we brought you news that Apple had taken steps to seize iPhone5.com. The company had filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization, claiming ownership of the term “iPhone 5,” and therefore demanding that the domain be handed over.
Now, The Next Web is reporting that the WIPO sided with Apple. The domain has been seized and handed over to Corporation Service Company, a company that specializes in brand protection and is apparently in the employ of Apple. The WIPO posted the following summary of the decision:
Since shortly after the launch of the iPhone 4 in 2010, the site has played host to a sparsely populated message board devoted to news and rumors about the iPhone 5. The news that Apple was going after their domain caused quite a stir on the little site, with a surprising number of users agreeing that Apple had the right to own it.
If you visit the site now, all you see is this:
There’s no word on what (if anything) Apple intends to do with the site. They could set it up to redirect to their iPhone site, but that’s unlikely, since the next iPhone will almost certainly not be called the iPhone 5. Instead, they’ll probably leave it blank. A request for comment has not yet received a reply.
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