Developers, Be Warned: Apple Has Apparently Trademarked Those Glossy Chat Bubbles
by Jason Kincaid on September 1, 2009

Last night, we wrote about another developer thoroughly bashing the app store for its inane approval policies. This time it was well known developer Joe Stump, who had an important bug-fix for his company’s game Chess Wars sit in App Store limbo for six weeks. Finally, this morning an Apple representative named Richard called Stump to inform him why Chess Wars was being rejected after the six week wait: the bubbles in its chat rooms are too shiny, and Apple has trademarked that bubbly design. Yes, the App Store has reached a new low.

Upon hearing this, Stump says he specifically asked the Apple representative to confirm that these bubbles were in fact trademarked, to which the representative responded, “Yes”. The representative said Stump needed to make the bubbles “less shiny” and also helpfully suggested that he make the bubbles square, just to be sure.

Of course, there are numerous other apps that have used this glossy chat appearance, including Facebook and Tweetie, a very popular Twitter client. The difference in these is that they include small thumbnails of user photos, which Chess Wars doesn’t have. Stump asked the Apple representative if including small photos in the interface would solve the problem by helping to differentiate it from Apple’s native SMS app, but the Apple representative said that it was the bubbles themselves that are the issue. Which means that Apple is either being remarkably inconsistent in its approval policies (which would be nothing new), or they’re about to launch a crusade to eliminate these glossy bubbles from any application that dares use them.

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  • release early, release often

    • Speaking of things software developers should know…

      Hasn’t Apple always released a Human Interface Guidelines document for each of its operating systems for years, like many platforms do?

      In other words, for the past 20 years, Apple has encouraged developers to use UI that looks like the operating system so that the experience is consistent for users. It helps the developers and it helps Apple by making sure every use of their operating system flows smoothly, rather than learning a different UI for every application.

      So why, all of a sudden, would they want every application built on their platform to have a different interface experience than the platform itself?

  • Apple is slowly screwing itself against a wall…

  • OK, I defended Apple on the previous post, but this is just dumb. Don’t they WANT to create some standardized language around their UI? Isn’t that desirable and part of what is considered a good platform?!

    • Good point. While not part of the Human Interface Guidelines, one would think that consistency would be something they’d like. I mean, they are already very anal about ensuring stock icons like Bookmarks or Favorites are used in such a way that is consistent across the platform. It’d make sense if users were able to assume that those little chat bubbles meant I was having a private conversation with a person or group of people.

      Of course, the flip side is that they might want to keep the bubbles on the platform, and the grey area of allowing devs to use the bubbles would tempt them to use shiny bubbles on other platforms.

    • There was a time when the HIGs where the bible of development. It kept Apple applications looking like Apple applications rather than a hodge-podge of UI styles. Truly this is going to be a self-inflicted death!

      Would I love to have a web cam set up in the offices of the application reviewers. I can only imagine what goes on in there…

  • wow apple.

    apple is like a restaurant serving a peanut butter and jelly without the jelly.

    -Patrick Mandia

    AT&T– i dont like strawberries so NO ONE ON THIS FREAKING PLANET IS ALLOWED TO EAT STRAWBERRIES!!

    -Patrick manida

    • Arrogant Douchebag - September 2nd, 2009 at 9:37 pm PDT

      I like to put a quote attribution at the end of anything I say

      -Arrogant Douchebag

      This makes it seem like what I am saying IS REALLY IMPORTANT LIKE THIS SENTENCE WITH CAPSLOCK AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!!

      -Arrogant Douchebag

    • I sometimes like to spell my name incorrectly.

      -Patrick Mandible

  • OMGZ HE SHUD HAVE JUST RELEESED CODE WITHOUT BUGS IN IT

  • Feels like the pressure is building up… if only there were another app store outlet with some momentum to help let out some steam.

    microsoft, google, blackberry … not yet

  • Not since comcast have I ever hated a company so much. I hope this company dies.

  • trademark bubbles ?!?!

    that sounds silly.

    Whats next? Apple has trademarked glossy/smooth edged/bright icons/windows/buttons/font !??!!

    ridiculous.

  • Apple is quickly becoming the laughmg stock of the tech industry. Anybody that supports this disaster of a company is hindering innovation and progress. Expect to be told what you can and cant put on your computer in the next 10 years.

    • i support Apple, this is the best brand in whatever they touch. OS X, WebKit are good examples of what the hi-talented people at Apple can do.
      I don’t care about this kind of comments, I’ve been there. I hated Apple before I bought a Mac (remember Vista ? that was a really good reason to try something else, even when you were very doubtful about it).
      I learned their philosophy and I love it now. Most of the comments I read about Apple are written by morrons who don’t know nothing about Apple. Just like I was…

      • Yeah Apple’s game console, Pippin, was indeed the best of breed. I mean that thing revolutionized the game console.

        The Macintosh TV (not Apple TV), released in ‘93 was also a real gem.

        And let’s not forget OSuX itself. What a waste of an OS. Maybe if it ran on more than one type of machine it could be construed as any good.

        • OSX runs on one more “type of machine” than Windows does. Two if you count iPhone.

          • Well _excuse_ me.

            I guess that I should have said “one brand of poorly designed PC hardware with an extremely limited lineup… oh and a mobile device where you’re free to do none of things an operating system normally gives a user the power to do (if you want to call it an operating system in my case, let’s just say we disagree unless you’re talking about the most basic definition of the word, in which case you’re just being snide).”

          • Meant to say:

            “if you want to call it an operating system in THIS case”

          • Matt,

            Mac’s run MAC OSX whereas the iphone runs OSX, a derivative.

            Taking into account all of the derivatives for Windows 2000 you end up with more than OSX. 1) Windows 2000 2) Xbox OS ( based off of win 2k ) 3) Windows 2000 Embedded

            Windows XP also has an Embedded version so it would be tied with OSX.

        • WayneB… your avatar is a windows logo… I’m just wondering if you might be a tad bias here, or if the MS chip in your head made you do that?

      • Oh I’m a fan of Apples hardware and OS… and switch from windows when Vista came out.. doesn’t mean I have to like Apple and their policies… I didn’t like Microsofts ether, but until something else comes out that I can switch to, I’m stuck using what is currently the best…and as long as they are not actually being evil (although coming close some times) I’ll stick with the best hardware because my livelihood and sanity depend on it.

        We do know how they are successful. Anyone have several hundred million to start a new company to produce Apple killer products?
        If so, count me in!

        • Arrogant Douchebag - September 2nd, 2009 at 9:41 pm PDT

          Sure is fanboy here. Protip – Windows XP still works fine if you don’t like Vista, did MS releasing Vista somehow make Apple’s overpriced PCs better?

      • Yeah I remember Vista, loved it until Windows 7 came out. Miles ahead of XP. I originally jumped on the “oooh Vista sux!” bandwagon, but after I was forced to use it (64 bit os for all my ram), I found out that all those people complaining had no idea what they were talking about.

        As for best hardware, it’s well known that Apple hardware, while looking shiny and pretty, is notoriously overpriced and underpowered (Except perhaps massive server clusters)

        Next reason to still use mac?

        PS: I used to use mac

  • I very much doubt you can “TRADEMARK” a bubble call. At first a bubble by itself means nothing meaningful and it would have to be a real dumb registrar who’d permit it. If you use text then every iteration would be a different trademark…

    They could have applied for a design registration. Again, looking at it from registrar point of view, I’d found nothing of a meaningful value on bubble itself.

    The only aspect I’d understand is the whole look and feel of the application…

    All in all Apple are talking out of their bottom… Although something else strikes me as odd and worrying of late. Until last year, Apple was almost a synonym (for about a decade) for COOL. For products, looks and anything to do with the company. Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of company paranoia, unpleasant behaviour towards developers, competitors (Google) and users (denying anything wrong with exploding phones).

    Has Steve lost his proves, or has somebody else been instilling anew company culture?! Apple shouldn’t forget how fickle are the fortunes of one company… Apple has been there before.

  • Apple = paranoid meth addict. Someone help them please.

  • Keep it up Apple: This is pissing me off now.

  • No company is too big too fail. Anyone remember myspace?

    Apple just keep pissing off the developers until we all switch our time and efforts to Android.

    • obviously apple is having some issues but comparing them to myspace is a bit absurd. really reaching with that one.

    • Except for the part where Apple sells products for money.

      • What exactly is Myspace selling, a convoluted mix of mismatched sites that look like a rehash from Geocities? Myspace could have been even more gigantic if they just progressed. Instead they decided to stick with the same piss poor design, feature and horrible back end.

        Apple on the other hand continues to innovate and force the rest of the industry to innovate around them. Exactly how many iPod and iPhone clones are there now?

        • Apple innovated nothing.

          iPod was hardly the first ever portable media player out ther.

          And the iPhone? Do you WANT me to laugh in your face? It did nothing I couldn’t already do with my Treo 660 five years ago. In fact, the iPhone does a lot less.

          Or are you deluding yourself into thinking the iPhone is the first smartphone ever made like you did with the iPod?

          Please, before you call Apple innovative, you should actually look up who did the innovation first.

          Apple is liek Microsoft: They don’t innovate, they simply pull together things into a “workable” package.

    • Actually, that would be great MIk… we need more devel love :) (HTC Hero user here).

    • Apple is current the only game in town for most developers.

      Android represent a viable application market at some point in the future but at the moment there is no chance to make back the development dollars.

      Google should follow Microsoft’s lead and throw some money at developers to guarantee a minimum amount of revenue per ported application to jump start their market.

  • This represents a fantastic opportunity for all the other “app store” players such as RIM and Android. It amazes me that 2 years after the launch of iPhone and the app store RIM is still struggling to present a strong alternative. They have the distribution and the funds, what is the problem?

  • I’m going to toss in a (rare) positive review… I submitted my app (http://www.storesync.com) and it was approved within 12 days. I had 0 issues getting the app approved, and it proved to be true in my case that most apps are approved with 14 days.

  • Doesn’t the Android have the same look and feel for the texting feature?

    • Handcent (a non standard SMS client for Android) has bubbles that look the same.

      The trademark claim is probably bogus. But it doesn’t matter, in the app store apple gets to make the rules so if they want to reject it based on “trademarked bubbles”, they can.

  • crack their head open dude!!!
    That really sucks… big time…
    Instead of providing a nice environment for developers to produce apps they are pointing dirty fingers…

  • This is just pathetic. What a joke Apple has become.

  • I have a trademark on green (#3A9F00) hyperlinks. Techcrunch, back off. I advise you change to #3AA000 immediately. A C&D is on the way.

  • You cannot be serious… I’m actually kind of dismayed by this :(

    • yeah i’m angry but underlying the anger is my disappointment. i didn’t think i would see the day apple went over, but i think they are on the right path of fucking up quite nicely.

      • It wasn’t as if stiff competition was enough! They needed, well themselves, to f everything up. I cannot believe that I actually supported this totalitarian coproration as some sort of idillic anti-1984/corprorate-speak ode to the web. What a damn eye opener…

  • I wonder if apple realizes that they’re losing customers this way. Believe it or not i was actually considering buying an iphone a while back, but after reading all the horror stories about the way this company operates (and the way it treats its employeess) i woved not to ever buy an Apple product in my life. I have also sold every single apple share i used to own. I lost a couple thousand dollars in profits because of that, but at least i know that im not supporting a monrolistic, anti-competitive monster. Im only one person, but sooner or later other people will begin seeing this company for what it is.

  • you have got to be kidding me . how are they able to trademark this?

  • this is starting to approach comedy!!!

  • Copyright laws are out of control in the U.S. and Steve Jobs is just being a control freak. Enough already.

  • Wait! That Twitter button at the bottom of this screen is a shiny bubble. Oh bad Twitter. Spank! Spank!

  • Mike Gunderloy (http://afreshcup.com/) abandoned Microsoft after they tried to trademark the ribbon.
    Apple has gone to fat: they are built on tools that were given freely (starting with C), and they employ all Microsoft hated tactics to bash others using their control on the OS. We should just stop buying iPhones.

  • So? Apple is not giving it away for free now. Boo Hoo for all the little SW startups and their nose picking apps that won’t run on iphone. Trademark your own stuff if you don’t like it.

  • I’m looking forward to ditching the iphone.

  • Our app update for “Connect” just got rejected for using the profile/head icon associated with iphone Contacts.

    I guess Apple has trademarked that white head shape also.

    What really bothers me is the same artwork exactly was used in the current build and Apple never had a problem with it.

    Adam

    Crowded Road

    • are you serious? like this actually happened? i had to read that a couple of times. is that excatly what they told you or are you paraphrasing?

      • That’s what they told us and even sent a screenshot of the head icon in question.

        • that is simply amazing. i guess you have to uhm pull things from your ass and become more perceptive about what problems these reviewer guys will present. people keep saying there’s a list of what can and cannot go through…and i keep asking if this is true, because some of the things i’ve heard from developers have been ridiculous.

  • we had an icon in our app showing syncing between our iPhone app and desktop app. It took apple 4 weeks to revert back with a rejection.

  • Oh please, this is just an excuse for them ignoring his application for weeks.

    • This trademark would never hold up in court but they can still deny apps on whatever grounds they choose. Apple cannot legally trademark rounded corners either. Especially when all of the built-in UI components are glossy and rounded. They set the look-n-feel themselves and in some cases the components themselves are not customizable.

      My apps are now being rejected for the most benign offenses, and ones that are nowhere documented. I had several apps rejected because 1 word of the title was present in the keywords list. This sent 10 apps back into the review queue for another 2 weeks after I had waited 3 for the rejection.

      Yesterday I had 2 app updates rejected because the descriptions said they were on sale, which is common in the app store, but according to them is now not allowed.

      I hate twitter, but it may be helpful if Apple starting using it to post bi-hourly updates to the approval rules so we can stop playing whack-a-mole at 2 week intervals.

      It’s starting to remind me of my days 15 years ago back in tech support where people were measured not so much on problem solving but problem resolution, meaning that if you could deflect something with some policy, or make the case the issue wasn’t supported or was someone elses’ problem, it was the same as closure. I think the absurdly small 40 person team reviewing apps at Apple, which my 30% rev share contribution alone pays 3 salaries for, is doing this now; just swatting down apps left and right for any reason just to deal with the volume. That’s why I laughed when I read that Apple claims it’s reviewers spend most of their time helping developers with defects in their apps. A complete lie. They won’t even give you the chance of fixing something they don’t like in the appstore description before kicking you to the back of the review line.

      Goolge, fix your app store. Market it. Run commercials for it. Run some Apple-vs-PC-like ads talking about how Apple has 10000 ebook apps. Compete so developers have an alternative because most would love nothing more than to jump ship because we’re tired of Apple’s unending bullshit.

      Apple, stop being retarded. Your developers are your partners. Your entire marketing campaign for the iPhone, which lags behind in features from phones created 2 years ago, is based on our work, and we pay you 30% of our revenue. I’m give you 10k a month. And for that I can’t even talk to a human or get anything more than a form email response to a question after waiting for sometimes months. Developing apps for other mobile platforms was a pain in the ass and I had to pay for certification, but at the end of the day it was less than what I pay you for zero support and I could actually get a person on the phone.

      You suck, Apple.

      • how does this happen? why is this happening? why are people allowing this to happen? why is apple not anything (whatever mg wrote about the stor and phil stepping in i don’t buy whole heartedly because the same sh*t is going on. it looks like the people with the platform to complain or the loudest megaphones are being dealt with)?

        have you contacted apple with a list of your complaints, and what have they said?

        make a list of all the reasons they proveded for rejecting all your apps. i think you should also aks around and get other developers to talk about what’s going on. this rot is complete bs.

        • You have a lot of very rational questions sir. Sadly, you are evidently not a developer! This is straight from Kafka unless you are dealing in very vanilla apps. You have absolutely no idea how pissed off I am. The drunken tirade I sent to Steve was probably not my best moment, but that was after losing a devleoper as a client pulled remaining projects due to this process.

          I am furious.

        • You’re assumign Apple actually gives a damn about their users and developers.

  • Considering that Apple so very hard pushes for a standard look & feel in its applications (and spanks developers for using their icons in ways they consider not appropriate for the visual), I would find it oddly inconsitent that they now punish people for remaining consistent with their look and feel on such a matter.

    My gut reaction is that there is something else behind that.

  • HA HA! The evil empire strikes again!

    Next they’re going to trademark anything that relies on the touch interface.
    “We’re sorry, we noticed you application involves touching the screen. Since this duplicates features in the core applications of the phone you’ll have to resort to shaking alone as an interface for your program.”
    Luckily most fart apps will still work through shaking the phone.

    • Apple’s not the Evil Empire. That’s Microsoft. Apple never became the IT monopoly as IBM and Microsoft had.

      They do, however, have a monopoly on their own hardware. Unfortunately since they are THEIR computers I don’t think anyone can do anything about it.

  • yeah right! I’m a graphic 2d/3d artist and as long as you created the graphic yourself it’s yours! This is a ridicules notion and the US would not even consider a trademark like that! Someone is lying…
    I have created designs like that in 95 on my PC before apple crated them! But I guess I was using Photoshop. So do they own all the rights to my artwork because I used their software? Hum?
    lol! ;) good one!

    • Apple’s happiness with lawsuits is not new. If they thought that they could sue a little boy for suckling a lollipop the wrong way (Or a way they had patented.) they would sue the little boy.

  • It would seem to me that there would be value added to the iPhone itself by asking developers to emulate the look and feel of the phone’s OS and core apps across the whole app store…

    Hey Apple, I’m a long time customer, I have like 10 of your products laying around my apt, love your stuff, but on this one I think you need to pull your head out of your ass.

    I’ll stick to building my apps on the web thank you very much.

  • There’s no trademark on those bubbles that I can see officially registered.

    http://su.pr/1dkSYR

  • Isn’t it pretty ridiculous that although Apple is trying to appease developers by contacting them directly, the only ones that do get the attention, are the ones that complain openly in the web?

    So if I have an app that does not get approved within their 7 or 14 days (I forgot the right approval time schedule), you should complain openly, hoping techCrunch catches it, and then apparently one of the high-executive of Apple will read it from here and then send a mandate down to their approval department to expedite your app.

    This doesn’t mean they are fixing anything. They are just catching the high-profile cases so it appears to the press that they are righting the ship.

    The app approval process is probably the same thing.

    • If Apple had its way, nobody but Apple would develop for OS X.

      They already show how much they do NOT want anything but iTunes talking to iPods and the iPhone.

      And they’d rather have people download approved apps from their store… and nobody can develop for the iPhone without their blessing… or rooting the phone.

  • Isn’t it pretty ridiculous that although Apple is trying to appease developers by contacting them directly, the only ones that do get the attention, are the ones that complain openly in the web?

    So if I have an app that does not get approved within their 7 or 14 days (I forgot the right approval time schedule), you should complain openly, hoping techCrunch catches it, and then apparently one of the high-executive of Apple will read it from here and then send a mandate down to their approval department to expedite your app.

    This doesn’t mean they are fixing anything. They are just catching the high-profile cases so it appears to the press that they are righting the ship.

    The app approval process probably hasn’t changed at all!

  • Beejive (a popular iPhone chat client) uses the exact same bubbles as Apple’s SMS app.

    They weren’t rejected for it…

  • Wow, what an awesome platform on which to create applications!

  • I hate those SMS bubbles.

    Of all the design elements for the iPhone, those SMS bubbles suck a big root.

    I’ve wanted to change them since the first time I saw them, to what Skype uses, or something more classy.

    The bubbles are rubbish.

    • yeah i hate them too, but are they serious about this “trademark” and this “we don’t want it to replicate x reason”…are they serious or is this one of the many reviewers who is obviously working too hard in the app store and needs a break ;p

  • Every few days Apple does something to keep me away from switching to an iPhone

  • I believe that the Apple rep on the phone was simply ignorant of the facts. I doubt that “TEH BUBBLEZ ARE TRADEMARKD” it came from anybody higher up than the approval drone himself.

  • The weird thing about Apple’s policies is they are only enforced on updates or initial approvals. So apps that already violate some new policy can hang out there forever as long as they don’t update. I had one update that was rejected because they said an app containing the sound of a gun had to be rated 17+, so I didn’t pursue the update and left the current 12+ rated app out there.

  • It may have been covered on TC but another app developer had their app rejected for using a simple clock icon that too closely resembled the History or Recent icon in the iPhone UI.

    Maybe I’m in the minority but I don’t find the iPhone interface visually appealing (though there are some well designed 3rd party apps). This kind of rejection crap over simple design elements is a waste of everyone’s time and damaging to Apple’s reputation and relationship with developers.

    - Graphic designer; uses a MacBook Pro; bought a Palm Pre.

  • Apple is like the Coyote chasing the Road Runner. They’ve made a wrong turn and have gone off the edge of the cliff, but they haven’t looked down yet to see that there is nothing under their feet so gravity hasn’t taken effect yet. They’re going to have to look down soon.

    Microsoft was in this same spot just over a decade ago. They made some poor choices, and in addition to being vilified, opened up the market for serious competitors in certain areas.

    Google hasn’t reached the proverbial cartoon cliff yet, but they’re sprinting along and are getting close.

    • I can appreciate your comment regarding microsoft releasing poor products, and tying developers into closed systems, but I don’t believe Microsoft ever went so far as to say that an app could ONLY have xyz functionality, or ONLY look like x or not like y.

      It is up to the users to decide if they want to buy a product or not. It isn’t up to Apple to say that something meets there standards.

      What happened to the free market?

      Did Microsoft really do stuff like that? I haven’t heard of it before.

      • No, but honestly, Microsoft did stuff that can be considered worse. They manipulated the system to keep vendors locked into Windows.

        There was no persecution when the DoJ started drilling into MS. They had more than enough facts about it. Plenty of accusations by dying companies Microsoft left by the wayside of their unethical and frequently illegal tactics.

        What Apple does is sleazy and I think they should burn for it… but they havne’t quite turned into the same sort of slime Microsoft is.

  • Hold on a minute chaps. I remember when speech bubbles were the only way we knew who was talking when reading my Tiger comic. Apple might receive a call from Marvel asking for their speech bubble back.
    Apple didn’t invent the speech bubble they stole it.

  • WHERE ARE ALL THE APPLE FANBOYS??

    • I bet this crap won’t bode well for the sales of new version OS X, or the crap that Jobs will announce next week.

    • We’re here… although maybe I’m not a “fanboy” because I actually don’t like Apple much… just the quality of their products.

      Being a long time Windows guy, I made the switch when Vista came out and never looked back… but I don’t think they are any better as a company than Microsoft.

      • I haven’t seen any real evidence that Apple products are of a higher quality than the competition.

        All I *have* seen is disgracefully overpriced PC hardware trying to pass itself off as something different. But since all Macs sold are x86, I can’t see how Apple gets away with it.

        Instead of falling for the “higher quality products” line by Apple people, I went to Linux. Damn. Sorry, but I doubt even OS X can keep up with Linux’s pace of change. And frankly I see Linux as a more viable threat than Macs to Windows. Why? BEcause unlike OS X one can switch to Linux for free on the same hardware. Why abandon a perfectly good PC for another PC just because of its operating system?

        That’s where I think Apple has gone wayward.

    • They’re still awaiting approval in the Apple Fanboi queue. Alot of them are being turned down for featuring logos that “imitate the core Apple logo” on their clothing and accessories

  • i should be delighted that apple is screwing itself over. or that it’s employees are helping to tarnish the company but this just makes me sad because i don’t understand how this can be true. because of shiny bubble designs? really?

  • Apple has a patent for multi-touch displays… They didn’t invent that either, I have grown from loving apple to hating them simply from experiencing their products. It may make others envious, but the user experience is shit. I couldn’t imagine being a developer, the whole process appears to be terribly negative to the people who love their devices the most.

    I will keep my HTC Magic with a hero rom running till the nokia n900 comes out :)

    *another lost apple customer.

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