While we’ve all more or less come to associate Touch ID with the fingerprint sensor on the iPhone 5s, unfortunately it seems that Apple will not be able to trademark the name. According to reports, the US Patent & Trademark Office has since denied Apple their application to trademark the name “Touch ID”.
This is apparently because another company has the trademark for “Kronos Touch ID”, meaning that by allowing Apple to trademark Touch ID, it could lead to confusion. Interestingly enough the Kronos Touch ID system is also related to a fingerprint recognition system, although in all fairness, that trademark has been registered since 2001, giving them a good 13 years on Apple as the Cupertino company had only filed for the trademark early this year.
That being said, Apple has been given six months by the USPTO to respond with a suggested remedy, otherwise the trademark application would be treated as abandoned and Apple could then be forced to rename the feature. Given how much emphasis Apple has placed on Touch ID, it seems unlikely that Apple would be changing the name.
This means that there is a possibility that Apple would have to buy the trademark from Kronos, but what do you guys think? What alternative names for Touch ID can you think of?