Skip to main content

Apple acquires ‘AirDrop’ trademark from Android developer

Patently Apple reports that Apple has successfully transferred the “Airdrop” trademark from Urban Airship, Inc., a company behind the AirDrop service that provides marketing services to Android developers. AirDrop in Apple’s hemisphere, of course, is a new Lion feature that lets the user easily share files with other nearby users. The trademark was transferred to Apple on May 11 and effective on June 9.

Apparently, “there was no financial transaction disclosure made available with this transfer”. Patently Apple also discovered that Apple filed for the ‘AirDrop’ trademark in China and another one in Canada related to the Photo Stream feature of the iCloud service which automatically uploads and syncs up to a thousand most recent photos across all iOS devices authorized with the same Apple ID.

Craig Federighi, Apple’s vice president of OS X software (note how they no longer refer to it as Mac OS X), pitched AirDrop in Apple’s Lion promo clip, “When you create docouments, you often wanna share them with friends nearby. With AirDrop, it’s never been easier. Just click on AirDrop, drop the file on the picture of your friend and AirDrop takes care of the rest. You no longer have to worry about network configuration and you don’t need to keep a USB drive in your pocket”.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq2enQYTrbU]

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel