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Apple Takes Legal Action Against Small Company With Pear Logo

Martinpa said:
Does it though? Many here have already pointed out that the two companies aren’t competitors, there is no overlap in the products they offer. Correct me if I’m wrong (and I very well might be since, like I said, I don’t have the legal knowledge required), but isn’t anti-competitive behavior when a company uses its favourable /monopolistic position in a market to give itself an unfair advantage in another market? That’s how I understood it. If they’re not competing, then by definition, they can’t be using anti-competitive behavior in this case. And since, from my understanding, antitrust isn’t applicable here, investigations/cases/rulings pertaining to antitrust shouldn’t be taken into account in this instance. Justice is blind.

I’m not arguing it doesn’t have the potential to look bad to the public though. But, as someone already pointed out earlier in the thread, most people will have forgotten about it tomorrow...
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Apple is being investigated for, among other things, abusing their position as “gatekeeper” of the App Store to get their 30% cut of sales, preventing apps from being installed any other way, and favoring their own apps over third-party developers. It could be argued here that Apple is bullying small developers by threatening to bury them in litigation over essentially nothing. It probably won’t be argued, but it’s definitely a possibility.
 
jarman92 said:
So your argument is as follows: “Apple has good lawyers, so every single lawsuit they file must be justified and defensible.” Bravo! Maybe Apple should be paying you to just walk into the courtroom, lay this devastating argument on the judge, and just walk out the door.
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Yikes, where did that straw man come from?

I believe the poster’s actual argument was more like this:

Apple’s real attorneys might know more about this than someone on a tech forum who claims to be a law student.
 
MacRumors said:


Apple is taking legal action against the developers of the app "Prepear" due to its logo, according to iPhone in Canada.

prepear-vs-apple.jpg


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:

claim.png


Article Link: Apple Takes Legal Action Against Small Company With Pear Logo
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the similarly is purely due to the flat design, which Apple doesn’t have any intellectual control. Frivolous lawsuit, Apple. I'm disappointed.
 
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decisions said:
The Apple fanboy in me cannot defend this one...This is one of the strangest Apple-related stories I've ever read. In the midst of Apple facing increasing heat for their App Store policies, they decide to sue a small company making a type of product Apple does not, for a logo that looks nothing like theirs...
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Not sue.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
If you don’t defend your trademark, even if the logo in question isn‘t close, you could (over time) end up losing your trademark.

More than likely, Apple is going to cite McLean v Fleming, amongst other cases.

I don’t see the logos as similar, outside of them both being fruit.
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Interesting take. Considering others making fun of Pear being a fruit company and simplifying this case as it's another fruit company ... take note of BlackBerry.

BlackBerry didn't have the actual fruit as their logo, not ever. They had dots, then chevrons to represent their logo in a vaguely shape of a blackberry - just enough to represent a blackberry yet not the fruit entirely. I suspect if Pear did the same there would be no move by Apple here.
 
Any fruit with a single leaf is owned by Apple? So petty, so Apple. It doesn't even have a bite out of it. Everything Tim says is completely undone by Apple's greed. I mean, I know he's paid to lie, but it's so blatantly obvious to anyone who watches Apple.

It looks like they gray scaled the competitor's logo in the affidavit. I wonder if Apple would p*** off if they added a second leaf?
 
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So, they sue a company that has no relationship with Apple, operates at a completely different industry and provide services that does not have any overlap with any apple’s own business. Next stop? Sue all Apple farmers because they produce fruit that looks like, you guessed it, apple, because they are? So, US farmers will have to contact Apple for a license to produce apple and earn money out of it? Instead of buying apple at $2 per kg, the Apple we eat will be sold at $500 per kg because it is licensed by Apple? How about oranges or mandarins with leaf left on it? They certainly looks like Apple logo as well.

On the other hand, I hope the legal cost of that small company don’t go way over the board, so they can convince themselves their legal cost subsidies their marketing campaign cost lol.
 
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Oberhorst said:
Quick reality check: They're gonna send them a letter of gratitude instead because of all the free publicity.
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Good point. They may not be entirely upset about this. A quick change of the logo might avoid the lawsuit and they get to keep all the publicity.
 
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BasicGreatGuy said:
If you don’t defend your trademark, even if the logo in question isn‘t close, you could (over time) end up losing your trademark.

More than likely, Apple is going to cite McLean v Fleming, amongst other cases.

I don’t see the logos as similar, outside of them both being fruit.
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Not 100% sure what you're saying here.
So even if something isn't close you should fight against it? So you should potentially ruin somebodies business for something that isn't close?

No.
 
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