Apple began marketing its Tiger operating system on 12th April, using a multimedia campaign that referred to "Tiger Essentials", Tiger Unleashed", "Tiger World Premiere" and "X Days until Tiger".
The campaign directs consumers to a "Tiger Center" that features products from manufacturers and product categories that, according to Tiger Direct, are basically the same as its own offerings.
The operating system launched on Friday – the day after Tiger Direct, a subsidiary of Systemax, sued in the US District Court for the District of Florida, alleging that Apple has engaged in trade mark infringement and unfair trade practices.
The marketing campaign has already had an effect on Tiger Direct's search rankings, says the lawsuit, which reveals that an internet search for "tiger" used to place Tiger Direct in the first three search responses, with the firm being the sole provider of computers and computer-related products listed.
Now, according to the complaint, Apple Computer "inundates the results of Google searches and has become the first result in a search for "Tiger" in the Yahoo and MSN search engines".
Tiger Direct says that there is now a perceived confusion between its products and the products being marketed by Apple under the "Tiger" brand. It is therefore seeking damages, a temporary restraining order and an injunction to prevent further damage to its brand.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for today.
