Over the weekend, Apple officially acquired some of the rights to the “Lightning” name from motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson, reports say. Two trademark applications published by the European Union Patent & Trademark Office on Sunday indicate that a transfer of the rights happened on Saturday. Lightning is still technically protected until 2013, and even after that point Harley-Davidson will be able to use Lightning for assorted products.
Apple uses Lightning to refer to the connector format on newer iOS devices. The technology was introduced with the iPhone 5 in September, and allows for small, reversible adapters, as opposed to the wide, single-sided 30-pin ones Apple has had since the early iPod days. The last device to use the 30-pin style was the third-generation iPad, which has since been supplanted by a Lightning-equipped fourth-gen model.
