As Launch Rumors Mount, Apple Finally Earns AirPower Trademark

BY Evan Selleck

Published 21 Mar 2019

Is Apple going to launch AirPower this week? Maybe! Do we have even more evidence that the launch is right around the corner? We sure do.

Back in the summer of 2018, Apple initially tried to trademark the name AirPower. That would be a few months after Apple actually first announced the wireless charging mat, for those keeping track. However, another company by the name of Advanced Access Technologies had actually already filed for a similar trademark. That ultimately prevented Apple from nailing down the trademark for its accessory at the time.

Apple officially opposed AAT’s trademark of AirPower in January of this year. At the time, Apple argued that the trademark would interfere with already-released products from Apple, including AirPlay, AirPods, AirPort, and AirPrint. Apple apparently filed several different disputes with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but, as of yesterday, the disputes have since been removed. Apple’s official opposition was revoked, too.

Here’s MacRumors on the move:

“Just after Apple withdrew opposition on Advanced Access Technologies’ trademark of the AirPower name, an Apple lawyer was appointed the attorney of the trademark case, suggesting that Apple purchased rights to the AirPower trademark from Advanced Access Technologies ahead of an imminent AirPower launch that would not give Apple time to secure the trademark through other means.”

This has been a busy week for Apple already, with the company launching new iPads, new iMacs, and even second-generation AirPods with a wireless charging case. But there are people who still believe that Apple is going to launch the AirPower wireless charging mat this week as well — a perfect accessory for the brand new AirPods. But those other launches were a surprise by themselves, so if Apple is indeed making plans to launch AirPower, it’s staying quiet for the time being.

As it stands, a previous report did confirm that Apple had approved production of AirPower earlier this year, suggesting, yet again, that the accessory’s arrival is right around the corner. And if that isn’t enough, code within the latest developer beta of iOS 12.2 also seems to confirm that AirPower is coming down the pipe very soon.

Our Take

At this point, the only thing left to say is this: just release AirPower already, Apple.

We Want to Hear From You

Will we see AirPower launch this week? What do you think? Does Apple have one more surprise up its sleeve ahead of its March 25 streaming event?

[via MacRumors]