Apple Sues Woolworths Over Logo Design
IN Australia, Woolworths not only still exists but is so trendy and hip that its shops might be mistaken for Apple, makers of to-queue-for gadgets.
Woolies says its new logo is a ”W” that looks fresh and exciting. Apple says it looks like an apple, which it does.
Confusion results. Right now thousands of apple fans are browsing the new iPix and iMix applications with shiny-eyed wonder.
Apple is so cool that’s got its legal team to challenge to prevent Woolworths from using its new logo.
Apple will have to convince IP Australia, the Federal Government agency that governs trademarks, to knock back Woolworths’ application – filed in August last year – to trademark its logo. As The Age reports:
Woolworths’ application includes a wide class for electrical goods and technology, putting it in direct competition with Apple should the retailer choose to brand computers, music players or other devices.
Apple seems to have a point. Apple sells music too, much like Woolworths – and, er, Apple Corps, the muiltimedia company brand who sued it for copyright infringement. It’s all so unfair:
The man who designed the Woolworth’s apple, Hans Hulsbosch, says Apple is taking trademark protection ”to the extreme”. ”Based on this logic, they would have to take action against every fruit-seller.”
So it is an apple, then?
Such is the way of big business, we will have to wait for the lawyers to tell us…
Posted: 5th, October 2009 | In: Technology Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
