Apple Goes In Even Harder Against Prepear Over Non-Apple Logo
from the this-is-an-apple dept
A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about Apple opposing the trademark for Prepear, a recipe sharing phone app, over its pear logo. The whole thing was completely absurd. The logos don't look anything alike, the color schemes and artistic styles are different, and also a pear is not an apple. I likened the whole thing to those absurd CNN commercials, which should give you some idea of just how dumb this whole thing was. So, thanks to this idiocy being exposed and the public backlash, Apple finally realized the error of its ways and backed off the opposition.
Just kidding. Apple, in fact, has decided to double down in opposing Prepear's trademarks, now going after the Canadian trademark registration for the logo as well.
However, despite the petition now having hit 200,000 signatures, it doesn’t look like Apple is about to let this one go. As further evidence of Apple’s intransigence in this area, iPhone in Canada, which broke the original story earlier this month, is reporting that Apple has in fact doubled-down in its efforts to block the pear-shaped logo trademark registration, taking the fight beyond the U.S. and into Canada, likely as the next step in continuing its opposition to the logo globally.
Worth noting is that Prepear, the threat to Apple as it is, has five employees. That's one less than it previously had, actually, since it had to lay off one staff member due to the ongoing legal fees to fight for its right to have a trademark that is a pear. To try to put public pressure on Apple to stop being the trademark bully, Prepear started an online petition to Apple to back off. After getting thousands of signatures to the petition, Prepear sent it to Apple's PR wing and suggested that everyone get in a room and find an amicable way to end this stupid fight.
Apple's PR group didn't even bother to respond.
This is not just Apple’s lawyers being lawyers, it appears that the organization at Apple stands behind its lawyers. As is the case in all bullying, silence about the behavior of the bully is the same thing as support.
Now, Prepear could just go ahead and change its logo, though what type of pear-based logo Apple would find acceptable is an open question. And, besides, that should be entirely besides the point. Prepear is right to think it should be able to use a pear logo. It doesn't look like Apple, isn't going to create any confusion, and Apple is purely a bully here.
While Prepear expects that its fight with Apple will still cost tens of thousands of dollars before it can see it through to the end, it’s stated that it has no plans to do any kind of fundraising through services like GoFundMe, although they’re still asking for moral support via their Change.org petition, and of course still hoping more people will show their support by downloading and using their app.
How this will turn out is anyone's guess. Prepear seems to want to fight, but Apple can almost certainly squeeze the company out in court until it dies if it really wants to. More public pressure might help, I suppose, but Apple has thus far seemed perfectly willing to ignore the will of the same public it claims to be defending from confusion.
This is how trademark bullying works and it's a lesson being taught by a master at the art.
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Filed Under: apples, canada, likelihood of confusion, pears, trademark
Companies: apple, prepear
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Apple's trademark extends to all pomes? Who knew! No pear, loquat, hawthorn or quince logos allowed, you might want to try a nice drupe instead.
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Re:
Why stop there? They will soon be going after any logo with a fruit and a leaf.
Your logo is a banana and an oak leaf? They gonna getcha.
A green bean and a palmetto frond? You're in trouble.
A pumpkin and a grass blade? You're doomed.
Watermelon on a lily pad? You've just got to try their patience, don't you?
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The irony is, Apple founder Steve Jobs deliberately had the bite put in so it wouldn't be confused with a pear or other round fruit.
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Great. I accidentally bought an iPhone instead of going on my bike ride. Then I accidentally bought an iPad instead of using a recipe app. When will this trademark madness end, please think of the poor people who don't want any more iProducts.
(/s, definetly /s)
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" people who don't want any more iProducts."
Reminded me of the MadTv skit where they put too any things in the Irack.
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F Apple
Apple's lawyers are c*nts just like the company they work for.
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Now now, that’s not a fair comparison. Apple’s lawyers lack both depth and warmth.
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Re:
...so....cold, shallow and dry?
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Damages should be awarded based on companies market share
I hope the judge benslaps Apple and forces them to pay a percent of their market cap for pulling this shit.
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Re: Damages should be awarded based on companies market share
Heck I would prefer that the Lawyers get literally slapped by the bench and maid to pay out of their pockets for time, costs and lost wages.
A few times of that and just following orders just won't cut it anymore.
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'Look, our customers are idiots, they buy from us after all.'
Nice of Apple to provide crystal clear and undeniable evidence that they believe that their customers are, if not entirely then overwhelmingly so incredibly stupid that they can't tell the difference between two vastly different fruits being used in two extremely different markets.
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If Logic resides..
And Apple dont appeal?? The Loss, and pay off the courts in the end..(this would add to the Idea of the corruption of this nation)
They might loose abit of money and HELP a small company.
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Maybe Apple is still annoyed at having to license the whole "i" thing.
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Re:
Apple is still mad at the whole "Apple Records" thing to be fair.
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Re: Re:
For sure.
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apple has a point
i firmly believe an app called prepear, with a clipart-looking logo of a pear, can be confused as being an apple product by apple users. and another one with a clipart orange, as a trump app, will be confused for an apole product.
take some app logos, put them on one page; apple, pear, orange, kiwi. they look like a line of products from apple, and it's in apple's app store. anything fruit-looking is apple in apple's store.
there are (very) few people that use an iphone and are tech-smart. the majority are not, at all. my gramma got an out of memory message in windows, so she started deleting emails. in her web browser.
i have a friend my age -he was playing music on my laptop, which was teathered to my phone. he knew that teathered meant internet is through the phone. he knows what a modem is even. he used up all my data. what he didn't realize is when he plays from youtube, it's using data. because he thinks if it's playing on the laptop speakers, it's playing from the laptop, so why would it use data.
yes, there are lots of people who would confuse the logo for an apple product. those people thinking 5g cell creates covid. they're iphone users. it's cheaper for apple to squash the pear -it's not about right and wrong for them. they're running a business.
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Re: apple has a point
You almost have a point. However the obvious got missed: Those people are going to be confused, probably about the exact same topic, regardless of what you, or anyone else does. Therefore this is not a justification for engaging in insanity.
Even if prepear change their name and logo to something completely uniqe you'd probably still get: "I'm using granny smiths because fruit was called for by my iPhone app: clearly it's a apple product."
And boom you have the same people confused.
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Re: apple has a point
That's a train of thought so malicious I was halfway to flagging it as spam...
...and then I recalled Apple was the labor of love of Steve Jobs, pre-eminent BOFH of this century and recalled that indeed, Apple's legacy is all about grifting the luser.
Yeah, all too many technology users out there who go the extra mile to keep their mind unblemished by fundamental facts, and it's not really a stretch to imagine Apple going after logotypes based on the premise of "Yeah, sure WE can see the difference...but we're pretty sure much of our customer base can't!"
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Someone with a brain: That's like comparing apples to oranges.
Apple: We keep telling you they're the same thing!!
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The "Moron in a hurry" test
Courtesy of Wikipedia:
"The test was cited by iPhone maker Apple's lawyers in the 2006 lawsuit Apple Corps v Apple Computer, between record label Apple Corps, started by the Beatles in 1968, and Apple Computer Inc. According to a 1991 agreement, Apple Inc. retained the right to use Apple on "goods or services...used to reproduce, run, play or otherwise deliver...creative works whose principal content is music", but not on content distributed on physical media. Apple Inc.'s lawyers argued that it was not a recording label simply because it distributed music, so it did not violate the agreement. They argued that "[e]ven a moron in a hurry could not be mistaken about" the difference between iTunes and the Apple record label. Furthermore, Apple Corps' logo was a green Granny Smith apple, whereas Apple's logo was a "cartoonish apple with a neat bite out of its side"."
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Aren't there ANY British readers here who will make the obligatory remark about Apple going all pear-shaped?
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Apple...because we can't innovate, we'll litigate.
Apple has (despite rising value) failed to create a single compelling product since 2012.
This is evidenced by the shareholders now DEMANDING (and in some cases filing lawsuits) as Apple refuses to give them their legally-entitled dividends.
Tim Cook just wants to sit on the company until it hits a 3tn milestone, but he's driving the entire thing into the ground.
Sales of phones are down 85% worldwide, sales on iTunes itself are down over 80%.
Apples 'value' is about to take the biggest course-correction in HISTORY, and the shareholders are trying desperately to get their cash out BEFORE the collapse, but Apple is stonewalling.
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Re:
That is an ... interesting set of assertions: have any links?
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Re: Re:
My guess is that the only links they have are the vegan sausages in their freezer
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