Future OS X Versions Could be Named California, Diablo, Skyline and More

At last year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, where Apple previewed the Mac OS X ‘Mavericks’, the company announced that it would be shifting gears on OS X naming, moving from big cats to “places that inspire us in California”. Today, French site Consomac has reported that Apple may also be using a pair of shell companies to trademark various California-related names in anticipation of future OS X releases (via MacRumors).

Mavericks

The report points out that a pair of companies going by the names of Yosemite Research LLC and Coast Research LLC applied for trademarks on several California-related terms in the category of computer software on the same day in December last year. “The terms for which the companies are seeking trademark protection include Yosemite, Redwood, and Mammoth (via Yosemite Research), and California, Big Sur, and Pacific (via Coast Research)”, notes the source.

The report further adds that both Yosemite Research and Coast Research are registered in the state of Delaware and carry Corporation Trust Center address.

“As with several other Apple shell companies created for quietly protecting trademarks, such as CarPlay Enterprises and perhaps Brightflash USA, both Yosemite Research and Coast Research are registered in the state of Delaware and use the Corporation Trust Center as their addresses. Both companies were registered with the state on November 22, 2013. Those details by themselves do not clinch the companies’ association with Apple, as the Corporation Trust Center is used by many companies large and small to facilitate corporate registrations, but it is consistent with Apple’s past behavior. 

The U.S. trademark applications by Yosemite Research and Coast Research from early December also all cite filings in Trinidad and Tobago for priority purposes, similar to Apple’s CarPlay strategy. Those California-themed filings in Trinidad and Tobago were made on June 7, 2013, the Friday before Apple’s WWDC 2013 keynote where it announced the change in naming scheme for OS X.”

The following trademark applications from other apparent shell companies carrying the same Corporation Trust Center address have also been discovered:

  • Diablo, Miramar, Rincon, and El Cap (Landmark Associates LLC) 
  • Redtail, Condor, and Grizzly (Cassowary Devices LLC) 
  • Farallon, Tiburon, and Monterey (Asilomar Enterprises LLC) 
  • Skyline, Shasta, and Sierra (Antalos Apps LLC)
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