Apple vs. Apple: computer company not liable for trademark infringement
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
May 8, 2006 at 3:49am
Apple Computer isn’t liable for trademark infringement against Apple Corps, the music company owned by the Beatles, a judge in London’s High Court ruled today (May 8), reports Reuters. “I find no breach of the trademark agreement has been demonstrated,” Justice Mann said in his judgment. “The action therefore fails.”
The Beatles and Apple Computer had faced off in court in London in a trademark dispute triggered by the computer company’s move into the music business via the iTunes Music Store. Apple Corps Ltd.—owned by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono and the estate of George Harrison—had sued Apple Computer twice before over the companies’ competing fruit logos and who owns the name “Apple.”
A 1991 settlement resulted in a $26 million payment by Apple Computer and an agreement to limit the use of the Apple trademark in the music business. In the most recent lawsuit, Apple Corps claimed that Apple Computer’s use of its trademark in advertising and software for the iTunes Music Store violates that agreement. The Beatles’ company sought a judgment of liability and an injunction against Apple Computer.
Geoffrey Vos, a lawyer representing Apple Corps, argued in Britain’s High Court that characterizing the download system as an electronic device was a “perversion” of the constraints laid down in the agreement between the two companies. Steve Jobs, co-founder and chief executive of Apple Computer, has said the downloading of music from the Internet was the same as buying an LP in the modern world.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 10,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
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