Apple acquired Lightning trademark from Harley-Davidson

When Apple first released their new controversial Lightning connector you couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the name, however the name does match with their Thunderbolt data connection. However as new patents show the big troublemaker wasn’t the cables but their names, because “Lightning’ was trademarked by Harley-Davidson, this meant that Apple was forced to buy the trademark from the Motorcycle maker.

According to Patently Apple, two trademark applications published on Sunday by the EU Patent & Trademark Office show the transfer of the trademark officially went down on Saturday. According to the filing, “Lightning” is still protected until 2013 and furthermore Harley-Davidson still own some rights to the term. So while Harley-Davidson most likely own the rights for motorcycle related products, Apple is pretty much free to use the term in all other product areas.