2023-06-20 16:59:00
Apple has a long and controversial record in court in an effort to protect the use of its image at all costs. Although sometimes all this reaches frankly exaggerated levels.
Here we have the case of a few years ago, when the boys from Cupertino sued the people of Super Healthy Kids, who developed an app called Prepear, which allowed users to store, organize recipes and create eating plans.
The big little problem with that app is that its logo, as it would be obvious to imagine, was in the shape of a pear. And for some reason the people in Apple’s legal department didn’t like that, who argued that it was too close to their brand image.
It was a mess gone bad. We only have memory of one case, back in 2012, when a Mexican company managed to win a similar lawsuit against Tim Cook’s company for the use of the name “i Fone”.
But now the boys from Cupertino have engaged in another legal lawsuit for the use of image, which turns out to be much more controversial and twisted.
Apple sues an ancient fruit company for using an apple as a logo
According to an article by the guys from WiredApple, the world’s most valuable tech company, is embroiled in a bizarre legal battle with a 111-year-old fruit company called Fruit Union Suisse.
This is a company established over a century ago that features a logo of a red apple along with a white cross denoting the Swiss national flag. However, if they lose the case brought against them, Fruit Union Suisse will be forced to change their logo, which supposedly looks too much like Apple’s:
Fruit Union Suisse director Jimmy Mariéthoz told Wired:
“We have a hard time understanding this, because it’s not like they’re trying to protect their bitten apple. Your goal here is really to own the rights to a real apple, which, to us, is something that’s almost universal… that should be free for everyone to use.
We are concerned that any visual representation of an apple, that is, anything that is audiovisual or linked to new technologies or media, could potentially be affected. That would be a very, very big restriction for us. Theoretically, we could be entering slippery territory every time we advertise with an apple.”
Apple, for a change, maintains that its logo is an iconic and recognizable mark throughout the world and that it has the right to protect it from any unauthorized or infringing use. The company argues that the fruit company’s logo is an imitation of its famous bitten apple and uses the same rounded shape.
Unfortunately, the result could set a precedent for other similar disputes between Apple and other companies with fruit logos.
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