Motorola tries to secure flip phone trademark, designer gets caught in battle

Mobile Phone News, Sept 9, 1996

"Motorola is currently in discussions with Haltof and thus it would not be appropriate to comment at this time," said spokesman David Pinsky.

Haltof said he was told by a Motorola lawyer that using flip in his brand name would be the same as saying "Motorola Clip."

After GTE Corp. [GTE] let its patent on the trademark Flip Phone run out in 1993, Motorola submitted an application with the U.S. Patent Office for the trademark. But the Patent Office refused Motorola's registration request. Since then, Motorola has embarked on its task to obtain the trademark rights to Flip Phone. According to Haltof, "Motorola is trying to bully its way into getting a trademark on Flip Phone," by any means "including walking over me" and sending warning letters to other manufacturers using the flip phone phrase as a description on their cellular handsets.

Haltof created the "Flip Clip" phone cradle in 1993. Soon after, Haltof showed the accessory to Motorola executives, in hopes of selling it to them. Motorola responded favorably, eventually asking for a quote on a bulk order, according to Haltof. He said one Motorola executive told him they planned to bundle the cradle with its power cords once modifications were made so that the cradle would fit every handset model except the StarTac and the Elite.

At the same time Haltof was trying to sell his design to Motorola, Motorola was trying to gain registered trademark status for Flip Phone. Its application was filed with the U.S. Patent Office on March 28, 1994. Haltof filed for the Flip Clip trademark on June 6, 1994. Haltof said he provided Motorola with at least 30 prototypes of the cradle with "Flip Clip Cradle" imprinted on them.

...Motorola Gets Cold Feet, Says Quote Too High

On Feb. 3, 1995, Motorola asked for a quote on an order of 50,000 and an order of 100,000 units, Haltof said. But on Feb. 30, 1995, Motorola told Haltof the quote was too high, he said.

On June 13, 1995, the Patent Office published for opposition the Flip Clip trademark. Between June and December, Motorola asked for several extensions to respond to the publishing for opposition procedure. During that same time, Motorola filed trademark applications in Canada and Mexico for the Flip Clip name. On Feb. 12, 1996, Motorola filed a Notice of Opposition to the Flip Clip trademark application. Motorola offered to buy the trademark from Haltof for $5,000, and later $7,500, both of which he refused, he said.

Motorola claims that Haltof's trademark application is invalid because it would not mean anything without Motorola's marketing of the flip phone. "The term 'flip' is identified with products from Motorola," Motorola Corporate Counsel Jonathan Meyer told the Wall Street Journal.