Now That Apple Has A Trademark On 'There's An App For That,' Will It Sue Sesame Street?

from the steve-jobs-v.-big-bird dept

Fri, Nov 5th 2010 8:00am — Mike Masnick

You may recall that, last year, Apple got quite upset at Verizon Wireless for running commercials that parodied Apple's "there's an app for that" tagline, with "there's a map for that," which tried to highlight the better coverage found on Verizon Wireless' network. Well, last month, Apple was officially awarded the trademark for "there's an app for that," so now we can wait to see who Steve Jobs decides to sue.

Personally, I think he should go after Sesame Street. CNET points out that Sesame Street just did a video mocking the "there's an app for that," tagline which they used in a song about the "iPogo" device. Considering Apple's aggressive nature when it comes to trademark issues, you can see how it might not be happy with the iPogo/There's an App for That sketch, but even Steve Jobs wouldn't stoop to suing Big Bird, would he? Or, maybe there's an app for that kind of lawsuit, too...

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Filed Under: sesame street, there's an app for that, trademark
Companies: apple

26 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 5 Nov 2010 @ 8:06am

sesame street is getting edgy
I love these new edgy sesame street videos.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Nov 2010 @ 8:09am

how many trademarks can you have.......and how broad. I guess that's what you get when the PT office is staffed by folks who apply for government jobs.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Nov 2010 @ 8:10am

Is there an app to protect us from frivolous lawsuits?
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cseiter (profile), 5 Nov 2010 @ 8:10am

Old Spice
Look at me, now look at you, and back to me. I am a Monster...
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Nov 2010 @ 8:12am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_Law_of_Headlines
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- Free Capitalist (profile), 5 Nov 2010 @ 8:29am
  
  Nice Irony...
  Wikipedia link for this theory removed for "unambiguous copyright infringement" of a site for a jewler....
  
  Got to go before my head explodes.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 5 Nov 2010 @ 8:40am
    
    Re: Nice Irony...
    No, it's because the auto link creator didn't like the ' and truncated it after that.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 5 Nov 2010 @ 8:38am

Trademark Monster?
T is for trademark, that's good enough for me,
Oh, T is for trademark, Apple's coming after me....
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- Anonymous Coward, 5 Nov 2010 @ 9:02am
  
  Re: Trademark Monster?
  T is for trademark, totally terrific tyranny
  L is for lawsuit, lawyers legally laundering money
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  - The Mighty Buzzard (profile), 5 Nov 2010 @ 10:55am
    
    Re: Re: Trademark Monster?
    L is for lawsuit, lawyers legally laundering lucre
    
    There, fixed that for you.
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redwall_hp (profile), 5 Nov 2010 @ 8:54am

There's one thing you're missing: Apple didn't like the Verizon ads because they're a competitor of sorts and they were kind of attacking Apple with their parody.

The Sesame Street video is a straight parody, and should be protected by Fair Use provisions.
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- Anonymous Coward, 5 Nov 2010 @ 8:57am
  
  Re:
  why would a competitive parody not be fair use?
  
  "its only fair use when I say its ok" doesn't fly.
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- gilroy0 (profile), 6 Nov 2010 @ 5:27am
  
  Re:
  And of course, this could be seen as pro-Apple, as it reinforces the "there's an app for that" meme -and- the magic of the prefixed "i" (as in iPogo and iPad)...
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Ryan Diederich, 5 Nov 2010 @ 9:17am

It should be okay...
It shouldnt be a problem for Verizon to air that commercial. That the wording is similar isn't good enough a cause to have it yanked from the airwaves.

Should the people who wrote "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" sue the people who wrote The ABCs or Baa Baa Black Sheep because they have the same beat?

How about the billions of items that donned the "I" before whatever it was, the I(whatever)s out there. Why isn't Apple suing these people? It is the same thing.

A company taking advantage of a saturated jingle or phrase is nothing new.
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- scarr (profile), 5 Nov 2010 @ 9:53am
  
  Re: It should be okay...
  A "Twinkle Twinkle" lawsuit would be tough, since it borrowed the melody from another song in the first place.
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  - Michael, 5 Nov 2010 @ 10:05am
    
    Re: Re: It should be okay...
    Need I remind you that 'Happy Birthday' did as well?
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  - DH's Love Child (profile), 5 Nov 2010 @ 11:10am
    
    Re: Re: It should be okay...
    Except most accounts of Twinkle, Twinkle have the melody being written by Mozart, and seeing as he died in 1791...
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mjb5406 (profile), 5 Nov 2010 @ 9:27am

Apple Overreach
First, if the trademark is for the phrase "there's an app for that", any variation isn't covered, so "there's a map for that" is probably safe. Sesame Street is parody, so is covered by fair use.

"There's an app for that" consists of 5 common words strung together in a particular way; if I say "There is an application for that", there is no infringement, just like "I found an app for that". Likewise, I doubt if you can get sued for "Google has an app for that"... it would be different if Apple trademarked "an app for that", which would ostensibly cover the variations.

Did they trademark "Think Different"?
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tubes (profile), 5 Nov 2010 @ 9:31am

Jobs probably wouldn't sue Sesame Street since he would be suing himself. After Jim Henson died he left his legacy to Disney & Jobs is the largest shareholder of Disney. As much of an asshole Jobs is I seriously doubt he will sue Sesame Street.
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- TtfnJohn (profile), 5 Nov 2010 @ 11:27am
  
  Re:
  He'll sue if he wants to prove to the world that Apple is the new, and not so improved, Microsoft.
  
  Might just as well as he's wrestled the other's Steve's crown away from him everywhere else except the chair throwing gold medal. ;-)
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iplawyer (profile), 5 Nov 2010 @ 12:00pm

Trademark Rights
Apple owns two pending applications for the mark THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT for a variety of goods and services. The mark is not yet registered; however, that doesn't matter. What matters is that Apple uses the mark in commerce and, as a result of that use, has rights therein dating back to when the use commenced. Securing a registration(s) for the mark gives Apple additional rights, but it doesn't need a registration (at least in the U.S.) to go after someone it believes is infringing those rights.

It isn't going after Sesame Street for a number of reasons, including that Sesame Street is not using the tagline/phrase as a trademark for any good or service. And, even if it were, it would be difficult for Apple to demonstrate that the relevant consumers are confused as to the source of the products/services; similarly, it is unlikely that anyone believes that Apple and Sesame Street are affiliated (or that there is some kind of sponsorship or licensing deal between them).

(Disclaimer - this is not intended to be legal advice, just my observations based on the few facts out there.)
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Jacky, 5 Nov 2010 @ 12:07pm

Hmm...
Doesn't Steve Jobs like Cartoon Characters, or like something similar to "Sesame Street"? If he sues Sesame Street for that, then he better hate Winnie the Pooh.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Nov 2010 @ 1:54pm

Why would Apple even want to take any legal action against Sesame Street over this? Seems more like free advertising for Apple.
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yogi2200, 5 Nov 2010 @ 4:53pm

Apple Commercial
This looks like more of an Apple commercial than a parody. It wouldn't surprise me if Apple paid for this, their logos are already plastered all over movies and tv shows, most recently The Big Bang Theory, so why would advertising to kids be above them?
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BruceLD, 5 Nov 2010 @ 5:51pm

Subject
I wonder if there's an app to find Steve Jobs a new liver should his present donated liver fail.
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kellythedog (profile), 5 Nov 2010 @ 9:37pm

brought to you by the letter I
how long till Apple trademarks "I-"
And the whole alphabet looses a letter.
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