Hasta La Gadget!

Apple is mighty protective of its iPod trademark, and if you violate it, you’ll get no sympathy from Steve Jobs.

Apple recently sent a letter to software company Little App Factory, requesting that it change the name of its most successful application: “iPodRip,” an app that enables you to copy and transfer songs from your iPod.

In response, John Devor, CEO of Little App Factory, sent a lengthy, emotional e-mail to Jobs. An excerpt:

Dear Mr. Jobs,

….
We are in desperate need of some assistance and we beseech you to help us to protect our product and our shareware company, both of which we have put thousands upon thousands of hours of work into. Our company goal is to create Mac software of the highest quality with the best user experience possible. I myself dropped out of school recently to pursue a path in the Mac software industry, and you yourself have been a consistent inspiration for me.

If there is anything at all you can do with regards to this matter, we would be most grateful.

Best,

John Devor

Jobs’ reply?

Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal.

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

Complying, Little App Factory has since renamed iPodRip to iRip.

That’s unfortunate for Little App Factory, but we have to admit it’s pretty funny Jobs didn’t even take the time to check for correct punctuation. In any case, it’s understandable why Apple is protective of its iPod trademark: It’s the name of one of Apple’s most successful products. From a business perspective, Apple’s legal team has to pursue companies big or small trying to use the mark “iPod.” (On the other hand, it’s more difficult to sympathize for Apple when it’s chasing down companies using the word “Pod.”)

Little App Factory’s full letter is available at CrunchGear, which originally reported this story.

See Also:

• Apple Bullies iPhone Accessory Maker Over the Word ‘Pod’
• Apple Aggressively Pursues ‘Pod’ Trademarks
• Apple Battles Entrepreneur Over ‘Pod’ Trademark

Photo: happylandfill/Flickr