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Apple Takes Legal Action Against Small Company With Pear Logo
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Apple is taking legal action against the developers of the app "Prepear" due to its logo, according to iPhone in Canada.
Prepear is an app that helps users discover recipes, plan meals, make lists, and arrange grocery deliveries. The app is a spinoff of "Super Healthy Kids," and the founders claim that they are facing litigation from Apple. Apple reportedly takes issue with Prepear's logo, arguing that its attributes are too similar to its own logo.
The company said via a post on Instagram that Apple "has decided to oppose and go after our small business' trademark saying our pear logo is too close to their apple logo and supposedly hurts their brand". The post goes on to describe the action as "a big blow to us at Prepear," and sets out the intention to retain the original logo and "send a message to big tech companies that bullying small businesses has consequences."
The company has launched a Change.org petition in an attempt to persuade Apple to "drop its opposition of the Prepear Logo, and help stop big tech companies from abusing their position of power by going after small businesses like ours who are already struggling due to the affects of Covid-19."
Prepear says that it is a "very small business" with only five team members, and explains that legal costs from the despite have already cost thousands of dollars and the layoff of a team member.
The petition has currently reached almost 9,000 signatures, and the founders hope it will reach 10,000.
Prepear says that Apple "has opposed dozens of other trademark applications filed by small businesses with fruit related logos," even in cases where the logo or industry is dissimilar to Apple's. Logos have been the source of legal action by Apple in the past, such as the case against a Norwegian political party and a German cycling path.
Update: Image from the trademark opposition paperwork filed by Apple:
Article Link: Apple Takes Legal Action Against Small Company With Pear Logo
As much as I get that you have to defend your trademarks, I don’t think this applies at all.
Defending your trademark is vital when there are companies out there who are using actual logos and trademarks and selling products which infringe. For example, if there were companies selling Apple logo t-shirts. If you don’t identify and go after them, you can get to the point where you can no longer defend yourself. Especially if the infringement has been going on for years, and across multiple states and marketplaces. You can’t “pick and choose” who you want to go after, based on arbitrary decisions. It’s all or nothing.
I understand if Apple has to attack all “fruit” based logos as fast as possible. But, I think it hurts Apple in the end, and the company they’re suing definitely has their moment to promote themselves on a huge stage.
I'm not familiar with Canadian trademark law; it might be different from U.S. law. So take this with a grain of salt. But at least under U.S. law, if the logo in question isn't close, then it isn't violating your trademark, because it clearly cannot cause confusion in the marketplace, which also means you have no duty to defend against it, because by its very nature, it cannot dilute your mark.
But even if we imagine for a moment that this were somehow not true (in which case NBC would have likely sued the upstart Apple out of existence in the 1970s, because the multicolor Apple logo is clearly far more similar to the NBC Peacock than this is to any Apple logo ever — the colors are even in the exact same spectrum order, just rotated by one — but I digress), it still would not require any sort of legal action, whether in the form of a complaint to the trademark office or otherwise. After all, sending a company a notice that says, "We believe that your logo looks a bit too much like our logo for our comfort. We would appreciate you changing it, but if that is not possible, please find enclosed contract terms for licensing at the sum of $1 per year."
And you've sent the C&D notice and agreed to licensing terms, and assuming they also agree to those terms, congratulations. You've successfully defended your trademark by licensing it. And you didn't bankrupt a tiny startup in the process. That's what a company not acting like a d**k looks like.
I think Apple is worried that somebody might actually do that. This is likely precisely in the hopes that they will somehow miraculously win, which would end any possibility of such a future product ever coming to market as soon as that other company's IP lawyers looked up the history of the "pear" mark. But it's about as likely to succeed as someone wanting to run Android on an iPhone X, so I really don't get the point of this action.
True. Unfortunately, that still costs a lot of money to defend against, which is why there should be penalties for frivolous complaints, particularly when the size of the companies in question is so vastly different — preferably in the form of having to pay the victim company's defense costs like you would in a court trial.
Yet another dick move on their behalf. Sure, they can defend their trademark, even though it‘s ridiculous in this case. Sure, they can ask for rent reductions while real estate companies are folding due to Corona. Sure, they can pay 0.05% income tax in Ireland because the Irish government crawls up their butts. Sure, they can keep exploiting Chinese workers and crawling up the butts of a communist dictatorship. But what it comes down to in the end: they don‘t have to. Apparently, Apple doesn‘t care about its image. They think they can behave like total ******s and their buyers won‘t care. Guess again, Apple: Microsoft did that in the 90s and people still hate them for it today.
At the same time, they can‘t seem to stop pointing out how environmentally friendly they are (allegedly), how open and diverse they are (unless you work there), how they support this and that charity (with donations that are mere pocket change for them). The reality is this: Apple is unethical. They have no policy to be responsible and nice. Their actions are greedy, misanthropic and dog-eat-dog. They‘re the new Microsoft.
So, now the Apple-hired trolls can come and vote me down, attack me and try to bury this post. I don‘t care. People have started taking notice of your antics. And once they‘ve soured to you, good luck fixing things.
At the same time, they can‘t seem to stop pointing out how environmentally friendly they are (allegedly), how open and diverse they are (unless you work there), how they support this and that charity (with donations that are mere pocket change for them). The reality is this: Apple is unethical. They have no policy to be responsible and nice. Their actions are greedy, misanthropic and dog-eat-dog. They‘re the new Microsoft.
So, now the Apple-hired trolls can come and vote me down, attack me and try to bury this post. I don‘t care. People have started taking notice of your antics. And once they‘ve soured to you, good luck fixing things.
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This is fake news, right? A good joke on apple expense.
Apple is taking legal action against the developers of the app "Prepear" due to its logo, according to iPhone in Canada.
Prepear is an app that helps users discover recipes, plan meals, make lists, and arrange grocery deliveries. The app is a spinoff of "Super Healthy Kids," and the founders claim that they are facing litigation from Apple. Apple reportedly takes issue with Prepear's logo, arguing that its attributes are too similar to its own logo.
The company said via a post on Instagram that Apple "has decided to oppose and go after our small business' trademark saying our pear logo is too close to their apple logo and supposedly hurts their brand". The post goes on to describe the action as "a big blow to us at Prepear," and sets out the intention to retain the original logo and "send a message to big tech companies that bullying small businesses has consequences."
The company has launched a Change.org petition in an attempt to persuade Apple to "drop its opposition of the Prepear Logo, and help stop big tech companies from abusing their position of power by going after small businesses like ours who are already struggling due to the affects of Covid-19."
Prepear says that it is a "very small business" with only five team members, and explains that legal costs from the despite have already cost thousands of dollars and the layoff of a team member.
The petition has currently reached almost 9,000 signatures, and the founders hope it will reach 10,000.
Prepear says that Apple "has opposed dozens of other trademark applications filed by small businesses with fruit related logos," even in cases where the logo or industry is dissimilar to Apple's. Logos have been the source of legal action by Apple in the past, such as the case against a Norwegian political party and a German cycling path.
Update: Image from the trademark opposition paperwork filed by Apple:
Article Link: Apple Takes Legal Action Against Small Company With Pear Logo
You,re right but they have superlawyer1, 2-14, 16-∞ and love to make negative headlines by bringing smaller companies into trouble, the one or the other way.
But they are not defending, they are attacking. If they lose this, which I really hope they do, wouldn't that set a precedent that's harmful for Apple?
It's not defending if they lose. So that argument fails and assumes they will win. Lol.
If you haven’t seen a pear tree before you could at least google pear with leaves photo? The “very distinct shape” is how a pear leaf looks like naturally.
If Apple is reading, you should sue camps in Yosemite as it clearly reminds people of your dual boot solution. Lol.
So now Apple is claiming the whole fruit and vegetables section of logos? What a bunch of ****tards.
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I think the people in Big Sur should protect their name!
I wonder how can a company that is all about its public image allow the legal team to make them look like Disney villains.
Even then you might be able to get away with more than I would have expected. E.g., there's a mini-"chain" (2 restaurants altogether) of vegetarian eateries in Berlin called "W – Der Imbiss", and their logo is just the double arch "M" turned upside down. McDonald's reportedly sued and lost.
Granted, that's how it worked out in Germany and in this specific case of a strictly local business vs a global brand. Different circumstances or jurisdictions might have led to different outcomes. (It probably helped that the vegetarian places don't offer anything like burgers, fries or other fast food staples on their menu.)
“Consumers encountering Applicant’s Mark are likely to associate the mark with Apple”
Well, after they have read about this legal action I guess they might... lol.
Well, after they have read about this legal action I guess they might... lol.
What the hell apple, this just isn’t right. They are not harming apple in any way, apple is hurting prepear just because they can.
I hope prepear sues apple for damages and win.
I hope prepear sues apple for damages and win.
I know exactly what you are referring to, but it’s total BS. This isn’t an apple. The logo isn’t similar in so many clearly obvious ways. No one is going to be confused by this.
This lawsuit is patently absurd (pun intended).
Did you read the article? Apple also sued a political party in Norway and whoever is in charge of a bike path in a Germany over their logos. Anyone is open to any lawsuit someone is willing to bring, and a company with tons of cash laying around is willing to bring a lot of lawsuits. Sure, Apple might not win these lawsuits if they were to go to court, but they know that is extremely unlikely to happen. They have hundreds of billions of dollars they can bring to bear, and can and will make the process as expensive as possible for the other side prior to the case making to court, so pretty much any typical company would go bankrupt before making to court. Both sides know this, so most companies will just apologize to Apple for doing nothing wrong, give in, and settle out of court.