Audio By Carbonatix
An Arizona company formerly known as iCloud Communications has dumped its trademark lawsuit against Apple and apparently changed its name.
The Phoenix-based iCloud caused a ruckus in the tech world earlier this summer with its federal complaint, which was filed just days after Steve Jobs officially unveiled Apple’s iCloud, an online file-storage service.
Claiming it had been called iCloud since 2005 and had spent big bucks in advertising and promotional materials, the local company sought monetary damages and an injunction against Apple’s use of the name.
Now, it looks as though the Phoenix firm has wussed out.
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On September 1, the company filed a motion for voluntary dismissal with prejudice, meaning the claim can’t be refiled once approved by the judge. It’s not even seeking reimbursement for legal fees.
Sometime in the past few weeks, the company appears to have quietly changed its name.
A Facebook site we found contains an August 12 update stating that “iCloud is now Clear Digital Communications.” The site has a profile picture with the name “PhoenixSoft,” a tech company with the same address.
The company’s previously used domain name, geticloud.com, has been unhooked.
“I have no comment on that — sorry,” says iCloud/PhoenixSoft’s local lawyer, Bob Itri, when asked about the case.
New Times called the number for PhoenixSoft. A man who answers tells us that he’ll get a message to the company’s president, Warren Mattingly. He says he doesn’t know what the company’s called now.
We remind him that he’d answered the phone by saying, “iCloud Communications.”
“Bad habit,” he says.
Mattingly hasn’t called back yet, but we’ll give you an update if he does.
A spokeswoman for Apple declined comment.
