While this should in no way serve as evidence that Apple's next handset will actually be called iPhone 5, the company has successfully managed to pry the domain name iPhone5.com away from its owner following an IP complaint.
The Next Web is reporting that Apple has won a complaint filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over the iPhone5.com domain name. First registered in 2008 as an online bulletin board, its owners were careful to note that the website was "not endorsed, sponsored, nor otherwise affiliated with Apple" and strictly "for the sole purpose of entertainment and knowledge" -- but that apparently wasn't good enough for the attorneys in Cupertino.
"WIPO recently posted to its website that the domain has been 'Terminated', with the domain owner expected to have relinquished ownership," the report reveals. "The iPhone5.com domain is now being held by brand protection agency Corporation Service Company, which may have been used by Apple to take ownership."
While most of us expect the next handset to be called iPhone 5 (or simply "the new iPhone," in keeping with this year's iPad branding), Apple has squashed many domain squatters in the past -- so the WIPO complaint could be more about brand protection than anything else.
The Next Web also notes that Apple does not own the domain names for iPad.com, iBooks.com or even iBookstore.com, although it did successfully claim iPods.com after a long struggle -- which simply routes back to the iPod section of Apple.com.
Follow this article's author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
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