{"id":47120,"date":"2023-10-20T15:52:30","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/healthkit-founder-gets-a-rude-shock-as-apple-uses-its-name-for-ios-8-platform-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:52:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:52:30","slug":"healthkit-founder-gets-a-rude-shock-as-apple-uses-its-name-for-ios-8-platform-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/healthkit-founder-gets-a-rude-shock-as-apple-uses-its-name-for-ios-8-platform-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"HealthKit founder gets a rude shock as Apple uses its name for iOS 8 platform – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

The co-founder of Melbourne-based startup HealthKit, Alison Hardacre, was surprised and confused to learn Apple is using its name for one of iOS 8\u2019s features<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even the capital K.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Hardacre woke to the startling news.<\/p>\n

\n

. @HealthKit was around a long time before iOS 8… #justsaying<\/p>\n

\u2014 Healthy Startups (@healthystartups) June 3, 2014<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI just happened to wake up at 4.15am and couldn\u2019t get back to sleep, so like any good tech entrepreneur I decided I\u2019d check my emails on my iPhone,\u2019\u2019 Hardacre says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI found an email from a friend asking, \u2018Has Apple just trampled on your name?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Surprised, she jumped out of bed and checked for herself and found numerous reports about HealthKit, Apple\u2019s new native health tracking platform.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s HealthKit is designed to help users keep track of all their health and fitness data, effectively collating health data from the many health apps available by allowing them to share data.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Melbourne-based HealthKit is a global health administration platform which enables patients to find practitioners online and enables users to track, manage and share their health records.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery startup worries that Google, Apple or Facebook will enter their market, but nobody thinks they\u2019ll take their name when they do it,\u2019\u2019 Hardacre says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

@healthystartups @HealthKit The new cyber squatting. The big don’t have to care! #notfairapple<\/p>\n

\u2014 Tim Offor (@timoffor) June 3, 2014<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Following the announcement her company\u2019s name was the fifth most popular trending term on Twitter yesterday and traffic on its website www.healthkit.com, which it has owned since 2012, was 10 times more than usual, according to Google Analytics.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been growing at a rate of 7% a week, which is really a fantastic rate of growth, it\u2019s what the founders of Airbnb say you should be aiming for,\u2019\u2019 Hardacre says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been over in San Francisco at health tech conferences; we\u2019re not like some company hidden in some backwater. We\u2019ve grown and we\u2019ve followed a particular strategy, we\u2019ve looked at moving the company to Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cPart of me thinks it\u2019s the cut and thrust of the business, but it\u2019s actually not.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt made me realise that this could happen to every startup.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of felt a little bit let down \u2013 didn\u2019t they spend five seconds to visit HealthKit.com?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hardacre says HealthKit had already filed a trademark for HealthKit in Australia.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

StartupSmart<\/i> contacted Apple for comment, but has yet to receive a response.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

@tim_cook @HealthKit I know you’re new to this whole Ruthless-Like-Steve-Jobs game, but my good man, you need to learn subtlety!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Daniel Cohen (@CodaAzzurra) June 3, 2014<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Executive director of Premier IP Ventures and intellectual property expert Brian Goldberg says the incident serves as a warning to startups to ensure they register their brand name as a trademark.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Goldberg says it\u2019s not conclusive at this stage that the brand HealthKit is entirely owned by the Australian startup, nor whether or not Apple will use it as a standalone brand name or in conjunction with its core Apple brand.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cSo at this stage the Australian startup may have some brand rights in Australia but it\u2019s not definitive as to the extent,\u2019\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to file your brand as a trademark. This provides certainty and clear rights for the brand owner. Importantly the rights can then be enforced as well as negotiated.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Note: this story has been updated for clarification. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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