Turns out Apple doesn’t own the letter “i” after all.

Having just announced its iCloud computing service, joining its existing iTeam (iTunes, iBook, iPod, iPhone, iPad, iWeb) on its lengthy trademark list, Apple is being sued by iCloud Communications, a Phoenix company that provides telephone services via the Internet; a classic David vs. Goliath case.

Apple in no newcomer to trademark disputes, and as befits a Goliath, has always won – or settled, including litigation for the appleimac.com domain name in 1998; the domain name itunes.co.uk in 2005 vs. Cyberbritain Group Ltd; the iPhone trademark in 2007 vs. Cisco Systems; the iPad trademark in 2009 vs. Fujitsu; the iAds name in May 2010 vs. Innovative Media Group, LLC; and (in an ongoing dispute) Amazon over the term “App Store.”

The tech behemoth’s very name itself, was the subject of dispute when Apple Corps, founded by The Beatles, filed a trademark infringement suit in 1978 — a spat that was finally laid to rest with Apple's iTunes deal with The Beatles in November.Continue reading...

Angry Birds and Moshi Monsters are ready for prime time at International Licensing Expo in Las Vegas.

Apple estimated to pay more than $1 billion annually to run iTunes; agrees to pay mobile patent settlement to Nokia; and sees top retail exec jumps ship to jcpenney.

Avis signs deal to buy European counterpart for $1 billion.

BBC moves to sell its iconic Television Centre in Wood Lane.

Bloomberg TV files complaint alleging Comcast/NBCU favoritism.

Cabbage Patch Kids will be revived for cartoon.Continue reading...

As Google aims its bow at Apple and reveals a slate of new services for Android, consider the latest research report from IHS iSuppli, on the state of the mobile marketplace.

iSuppli projects that revenue from the four top app stores - Apple's iTunes store, Google's Android market, Nokia's Ovi app store and RIM's BlackBerry App World — will reach $3.8 billion in 2011, up 77% from last year. The total number of downloaded applications this year is projected at 18.1 billion, and by 2014, to almost double to an estimated 33 billion.Continue reading...

Heineken makes history this week with the launch of StarPlayer, a 'dual screen' digital gaming app for the iPhone that makes TV into an interactive experience for football fans.

As an overlay to live football matches, StarPlayer lets fans at home watch UEFA Champions League games — which Heineken has sponsored for six years running — while playing real-time on a computer, iPhone or iPod touch.

Heineken is one of the first brands using an iAd to promote the launch of StarPlayer  in the UK.

Created by digital agency AKQA, the gaming platform’s 'dual screen' technology “involves time-dependent decisions on passages of open-play [and] makes StarPlayer a world-first innovation,” according to the official release.  James Hilton, co-founder of AKQA, says “the app is the most complex the agency has ever created.”Continue reading...

Three years ago, Disney Channel was called "the greatest teen-star incubator since the NBA stopped drafting high schoolers."

But with Miley Cyrus moving on to Lindsay Lohan-land, the High School Musical stars now college-age, the Jonas Brothers morphing into the Jonas Men, and (most recently) Demi Lovato quitting, Disney Channel needs new stars.

Luckily, a Disney original movie about a fake band appears to have spawned the real deal.Continue reading...

Lady Gaga's new single, Judas, hit #1 on iTunes within hours of being released, and is poised to debut at #1 on the BillBoard Hot 100 next week. Already ruffling feathers, it leaked online this morning and was rush-released by Interscope Records.

Gaga, meanwhile, posted the above image on Twitter to whet appetites for her upcoming album, Born This Way, which is being released on May 23rd — but apparently not at Target stores.

Nutricia, a Groupe Danone-owned baby food brand in the Netherlands, launched Baby Connection, an innovative app in the iTunes store on April 2nd, that aims to unite and engage moms-to-be and dads-to-be in the pregnancy journey.

When the parents' smartphones are placed side-by-side, for instance, the "duo-app" acts as one screen — but how to get men interested in tracking their baby's progress too? The brand's marketers came up with the "Instant Pregnancy Experience" for men (above). See the app in action below.Continue reading...

Amazon has some "big news" — a cloud computing-based virtual "locker" to give people access to their digital media on any computer and any Android phone. The pitch to customers: "Buy anywhere, play anywhere and keep all your music in one place." Amazon is now in the streaming music business.Continue reading...