I reported in February that Apple and Verizon/HTC might be headed for a tussle, in light of their identically-named products.  Apple announced its new THUNDERBOLT peripheral interface earlier this year, while HTC dubbed its first Verizon 4G LTE smartphone the HTC THUNDERBOLT.  At the time, I located a trademark application filed by Verizon for THUNDERBOLT in class 9, for a “wireless communications device.”  That application was dated December 2, 2010.  I see that the application was eventually published, but recently it went abandoned.

Meanwhile, an application for THUNDERBOLT in the same class for “handheld and mobile digital electronic devices for the sending and receiving of telephone calls, faxes, electronic mail, and other digital data” and for “mobile telephones” was filed in the same class by Apple on May 6th, 2011, claiming the priority of an earlier foreign filing for the same mark in Jamaica — wait for it — on November 9, 2010.  That beats Verizon’s file date by approximately three weeks. Touché, Apple.