Ive Not Master of his Own Domain

Amy Keyishian — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:41:50 -0500

It could be that Jonathan Ive’s notorious reticence could be biting him right in the nano. The much-celebrated but rarely interviewed industrial designer responsible for the iMac and the iPod was miffed when a Harry Jones, a design groupie in London, registered a bevy of domain names that ought to have been his – including jonathanive.com and jonyive.com. He complained to the World Intellectual Property Organization to block him from using them, and lost on May 5 – because his name isn’t a brand or trademark.

It’s the kind of aggravating wrinkle that irked Mary Tyler Moore when her production company, MTM, was sold, and she lost the rights to her own initials.

It’s also the kind of aggravating wrinkle that a lot of celebrities have avoided since, oh, 1994 by making sure they snapped up their own domain names before anyone else could. Then again, if Ive were the kind of guy who spent his time fretting over legal paperwork, he might not be the kind of guy who designed tangerine laptops. So who are we to judge?

As for Harry Jones, he’s had his Ive-praising website up since 2006, evidently with Apple’s approval -- and has used it to respond to the controversy. He admits to asking for a hefty payoff, but continues to claim he’s just a fan… a #1 fan.

Creeeepy!

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Ive Not Master of his Own Domain