Why is Inkwell stuck in review (manton.org)
86 points by speckx 6 hours ago
modeless 4 hours ago
Steve Jobs on cell phone companies: "We're not very good at going through orifices to get to the end users." [1] Today, Apple is the orifice.
ellyagg 3 hours ago
of course you don’t wanna go through somebody else’s orifice
llbbdd 2 hours ago
"the most personal computer"
theli0nheart 24 minutes ago
I just looked this up. Instagram currently owns the most relevant live trademark for "INKWELL" [1] (class 009). Apple's registration [2] is indeed dead / cancelled.
You could possibly try to register the "INKWELL" trademark for an RSS reader, since that seems quite differentiated from Instagram's claim, but IANAL, so who knows how successful that process would be.
[1]: https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/search/search-results/86733442
[2]: https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/search/search-results/78126699
ChrisMarshallNY 2 hours ago
> Inkwell is listed on Apple’s own trademark page.
I had an app rejected, because it had the word "Finder" in its title ("Virtual Meeting Finder"). I had to change the name of the app, and it wasn't too big a deal, because the original name was fairly unimaginative (as it was supposed to be).
But it does sound like the whole app name is in conflict with a registered Apple trademark. It's unlikely to ever be approved.
jxdxbx 4 hours ago
The top comment there is not correct. You do not have to "defend" trademarks or they "expire."
You lose a trademark if it becomes generic, regardless of how hard you tried to keep it from being so. Obviously if you let a bunch of actual infringements slide you're on the way to becoming generic, but all that matters is whether the trademark IS generic.
But, when lawyers write letters to people saying "you can't say escalator or Zamboni" you can just ignore them. Using a trademark in writing in a way that a trademark owner does not like is not infringement.
afzalive 3 hours ago
You definitely need to provide evidence of use.
https://www.dreyfus.fr/en/2025/03/18/proof-of-use-in-the-uni...
ASalazarMX 3 hours ago
> You lose a trademark if it becomes generic
And this is my biggest gripe with products from well-known companies that use already generic terms like "Apple", "Word", "X", or "Inkwell". I understand claiming exclusivity of words like "Microsoft Word", but not for the word "Word" itself.
esquivalience 4 hours ago
In the business, we often refer to that sort of reminder activity as "defending" against genericism. Practice varies by country but the point is often to show that you are not passively allowing the trade mark to become generic. Yes, you can often ignore letters (unless they request an answer or make a threat, which might be a different situation) - but it's usually a good idea to spend some time looking at it from the other person's perspective first.
jxdxbx 4 hours ago
Yeah, but there are a TON of things that trademark lawyers do that are counter-productive. I put vaguely aggressive letters from trademark owners in that category, such as Monster energy drinks thinking they get to control how others use the word "monster."
I remember when the Apple logo stickers Apple packed in had a little (R), which was later dropped, since it's ugly and not legally required. But no doubt some lawyer advised putting it there to begin with.
vessenes 4 hours ago
Sort of buried the lede here -- Apple uses the Inkwell name and has a trademark. This is just not going to get approved. Or, to quote Jobs talking to the iPodRip developer "Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal."
vegadw 4 hours ago
used. Apple used. It's legally a dead trademark, so Apple is claiming ownership of something they've already abandoned, but enforcing that nobody else can reclaim it, despite being a good name. That's not right, they don't just get to name squat.
armada651 4 hours ago
What's legal doesn't matter, it's their store, if they want to claim they own the word Pear too they can do that.
I think holding that kind of power over devices people own is problematic, but I seem to be in the minority here.
jasonjayr 4 hours ago
eikenberry 4 hours ago
thaumasiotes an hour ago
Fun fact: this same process is how Vietnam got its name. Their earlier proposal of Nam Viet had fallen out of use, but still couldn't get approval.
etothet 4 hours ago
Perhaps you’re right. Apple's App Store review can be a rough process. Then again, a search of “Inkwell” in the App Store shows plenty of apps that are named “Inkwell”, many of then writing-related.
vessenes 4 hours ago
Oh I didn't say they'd be consistent. But once it's raised, it's going to be really tough.
Barbing an hour ago
m463 4 hours ago
maybe apple should have changed ipod to avoid confusing it with a pre-existing music device:
etchalon 4 hours ago
The terrible consequences of App Review is how dependent you are on whether the App Reviewer you get is either very good at their job or very bad at their job.
Mediocre ones seem to cause the most problems.
doublerabbit 3 hours ago
Ai soon.
Barbing an hour ago
Did wonder if the reviewer knew the esoteric history of Inkwell themselves or if a tool pulled it for them.
Maybe they always scroll that trademarks page, they're just really thorough.
etchalon 2 hours ago
Deeply doubtful.