RealityOS trademark timing a legal requirement, not (necessarily) a WWDC hint

The discovery that a RealityOS trademark is scheduled to be filed around the world on June 8 has led to widespread speculation that the Apple’s AR/VR headset is set to be announced at WWDC.

Parker Ortolani, who made the discovery, said that this would perfectly match Apple’s historical behavior …

Background

Apple is widely believed to be working on two types of headsets:

• A mixed-reality headset looking much like existing virtual reality ones
• Apple Glasses, an augmented reality device looking more like normal eye glasses

The former device has been variously reported to launch late this year or early next year.

Most people shouldn’t get too excited about either at this point. The AR/VR headset is expected to cost as much as $3,000, and to be aimed mostly at developers. Apple Glasses may have a more consumer-friendly price, but aren’t expected to launch until 2025 at the earliest.

RealityOS is clearly an Apple name

There’s no shortage of evidence that RealityOS (or realityOS) belongs to Apple. Multiple references to realityOS have been discovered in Apple code, indicating that it will be the name of the operating system for the headset.

There are also clear pointers to the shell company used to file the trademark applications being owned by Apple.

For instance, one of Apple’s shell companies is “Yosemite Research LLC,” which Apple uses to register macOS names like Yosemite and Big Sur. Last year, this company registered the trademark “Monterey” days before WWDC 2021, and it turned out that Monterey was the official name of macOS 12.

And here’s the best part: both Yosemite Research LLC and Realityo Systems LLC are registered at the same address, which points to “Corporation Trust Center” – a real company that provides trademark services of which Apple is a client […]

Some of these trademarks were submitted with a logo using Apple’s proprietary typography San Francisco. 

RealityOS trademark timing

The file deadline discovered by Ortolani would mean the trademark would need to be filed a couple of days after the WWDC keynote, which is what Apple generally does (our emphasis).

It cannot be a coincidence that the “realityOS” trademark owned by a company that seemingly doesn’t exist and is specifically for “wearable computer hardware” is being filed around the world on June 8, 2022

The trademarks are also the only ones owned by this company “Realityo Systems LLC.” They were originally filed on December 8, 2021. This was just two months before “realityOS” began showing up in Apple source code.

The June 8th deadline is two days after the WWDC keynote. Apple typically files trademarks for products announced at WWDC a day or two after the keynote. This would be one helluva coincidence.

However, it appears that the timing is indeed a coincidence! A lawyer pointed out that the deadline is actually a legal requirement.

Attorney here. It’s a legal deadline. The Paris Convention requires that any foreign filings based on a first application made in a Convention country be made within 6 months of the date of filing of the first application

Since the first application was made on December 8 last year, Apple is required to file applications in the rest of the world no later than June 8, 2022.

This doesn’t mean that Apple won’t announce the product at WWDC 2022, but it does mean we don’t have persuasive evidence for it.

Concept image: Antonio De Rosa