US denies Apple’s trademark application for iPad mini

London: Tech giant Apple has been denied a trademark for the popular iPad Mini by the US authority.

The US Patent and Trademark Office turned down the trademark application because the name was ‘merely descriptive’ and did not create a unique meaning, it said.

The Patent Office issued the letter in January, although it has only just emerged, the BBC reports.

In it, it said the "applied-for mark merely describes a feature or characteristic of applicant''s goods".

The terms "mini" and "pad" and the prefix "i-" were all descriptive, it decided.

It added that neither as individual terms nor as a composite result, iPad Mini, did they "create a unique, incongruous, or non-descriptive meaning in relation to the goods being small handheld mobile devices comprising tablet computers capable of providing internet access".

According to the report, Apple still has until July to persuade the Patent Office that the smaller tablet differs sufficiently from its iconic sibling.

ANI