'iPad Mini' trademark rejected

The United States Patent and Trademark Office is said to have officially denied Apple a trademark for the company's iPad Mini tablet, Pcmag.com reported.

Specifically, the primary issue for Apple's rejection is that the iPad Mini mark, "merely describes a feature or characteristic of applicant's good," states the rejection letter recently discovered by the website Patently Apple. The USPTO bases its decision on a consideration of the separate "components" of the device's name – specifically, "I," "pad," and "mini."

"In this case, both the individual components and the composite result are descriptive of applicant's goods and do not 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. Therefore, the mark is merely descriptive of a feature or characteristic of the goods and registration is refused under Section 2(e)(1) of the Trademark Act," the letter reads.