The trademark application for iPad Mini was turned down because the name was “merely descriptive” and did not create a unique meaning, it said.
However, Apple still has until July to persuade the Patent Office that the smaller tablet differs sufficiently from its iconic device.
Apple has been involved in a series of patent disputes with rival firms.
It won a landmark case against Korea’s Samsung last year but this month, a judge in the US ordered the $1 billion in damages awarded to Apple be cut by 40% and set a new trial to assess the level of damages.
The award was the biggest in a series of global legal fights between the two companies over patents.
The Patent Office issued the letter in January, although it has only just emerged.
The letter 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.
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”.
In its last quarter to January, Apple said that it sold a record 22.9 million iPads and iPad Minis.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons President-elect Donald Trump celebrated his election victory at the Ultimate Fighting…
Millions of voters across the US chose to return Donald Trump to the White House…
Donald Trump declares victory in the US election as he addresses jubilant supporters in Florida.…
Stocks around the world are rising as Donald Trump appears to be on the cusp…
Donald Trump has won Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia and taken a lead over Kamala…
Quincy Jones, the celebrated musician and producer who worked with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Ray…