Apple in dispute with New York over logo
Apple Inc. says The Big Apple is worming into its territory with a logo the city is using for its green living campaign. Apple on Friday renewed its challenge to a trademark registration application that New York City filed last May, saying the apple logo was too similar to its own. Both logos depict a plump apple with a leaf. Apple’s logo is white, with its signature bite mark, while New York City’s proposed trademark is a green, figure-eight outline reminiscent of an infinity sign, with a stem, and the word “greeNYC” under it.
Apple’s challenge, filed in January with the federal Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, says the company will be “damaged” if the trademark is granted. The city responded, alleging one of Apple’s trademarks was fraudulently acquired. Apple disputed that allegation in another filing Friday. The city’s logo was meant to invoke thoughts of upstate New York’s bucolic rural areas, where apple orchards once delivered much of the nation’s crop, Spell later said in an interview with The Associated Press. The idea came from the city’s longtime nickname, The Big Apple, she said.
Source: Business Week
Comments(63)
This is utterly stoopid! Why does New York even care?
Lmao they pretty much stole apples logo and changed it to green….
Because Americans are stupid as ever and have to be fighting all the time, if not with other country’s, width some guy on the street, if not width them filling a lawsuit width some company giving god knows what reason, and if not that, well just shooting someone out in the open.
you must be really drunk to find the two logos similar.
maybe now mac wanna own all the apple images in the world.
apple must be the dumbest company in the world :\
http://nyc.gov/html/planyc2030/html/greenyc/greenyc.shtml
http://www.camecrashing.com/nav_greenyc.jpg
@Donetillo: You are aware that the picture in the article here is just a green Apple logo, right? Not the actual logo being used, which seems to be the logo I linked to above. Sure, it looks like an apple but it has some obvious differences compared to Apple’s logo. However, I guess my opinion may be clouded by the fact that I don’t like apple.
Apple should back down. They are the idiots. Why challenge a whole city for a logo? NY had it way before Apple did so Apple should change theirs.
Apple has a bite, NYC has no bite, plus the curves in are nothing like the embossing of the apple ones… This is probably just a tabloid rumour… there is no bloody way anyone could take this seriously. It’s a joke obviously.
The image used in this post is misleading – that logo isn’t the greenNYC logo. I have to say, that If I hadn’t read this post, then had seen the greenNYC logo, I would have never thought it to be in any way related to Apple, apart from the fact that it has an apple in the logo. Is Apple going to sue everyone with an apple in their logo?
Ive already seen that logo used for apple products when they issued that statement. http://www.apple.com/hotnews/agreenerapple/
Whats even stupider is there are already different color apple logos, the original one wasn’t white.
first off yes, apple will sue everyone who makes a logo that looks like an apple, or any other of their trademarks, not because they are against NYC being green or whatever.
it’s because if they allow this one, then another a little more like theirs comes out, and then another, and then finally someone can take apple to court, say that they haven’t properly cared for their trademark, and that anyone should be able to use it, because people think of a greener NYC not computers.
Every other company does the same thing, they are required to do it, if they want to keep their trademarks.
Haha this is stupid. apple is apple it’s a fruit!!!! why aren’t the farmers sueing the apple company for stealing their trade mark and making it in to a computer instead of it beeing a fruit!!!
Apple is now acting like Micro$oft…. nice.
Apple always acted like MS, they just weren’t big enough for people to pay much attention.
I hear they may go after granny smith next, she’s got their logo on every one of her trees…
Hmm… whatever next? Apple suing Anne Summers and the man from Del Monte?
it’s not a bad thing, but a win-win situation for both
Apple is wrong here… a company taking on a US State/City! Apple will lose…. no company should have the rights to override a Nation/Government/State..
New York City is also known as the BIG APPLE, Apple should just back down. The logo that New York uses don’t even look like Apple’s, the colours all different, there is no bite on the apple, the body of the apple is an infinite symbol not a solid mass, plus there is a stalk at the top. HOW IN HEAVEN’S name is it similar to Apple’s logo???????
What’s next? Is apple going to sue every1 who takes a bite in an apple? If that happened… well it would sure be funny but it would prove mankind is… very F* crazy
The only similarity is that both logos represent an apple. To bad for apple that they choose a fruit to be their company logo. I really don’t think no judge or jury unless they are on a payroll will find them to be alike.
So let’s get this straight…
You cannot draw/paint/photograph an apple unless it’s for private usage only or angry people from Apple will come down from their shiny golden clouds and sue your sorry arse?
Beware of the Apples people!! You do remember what happened with Adam and Eve, right?
We were told Apple will be suing us over defacing of “Original Copyrighted Logo” from the garden. Damn, I thought the serpent was bad.
Unless something has changed in the last few days, Apple is NOT SUING. New York City has filed for a trademark (the logo) and Apple has only commented on the trademark, which is part of the process. It’s normal behaviour when you file for a trademark, it has to be challenged…
And the first Apple logo had inumerous colors, just like a rainbow, not only the white one we all know from now…
I’m going to patent my name and sue every single person on the planet with the same name as me. Will that make me elligible for American citizenship?
I hear that Steve jobs is planning to sue Mother Nature and cut down all apple trees because of possible copyright infringement.
Hmm, is Jeff Bezos and amazon.com going to sue south america now because of the amazon river and amazon rainforest?
rumor has it, steve job’s gonna sue welch’s, treetop and mott’s.
Let’s sue everybody over everything – the American policy
Our Slanderous commercials against PC’s arn’t working to sway customers to buy our machines, QUICK, SUE SOMEBODY!
How bizzare considering the Beatles lost in their attempt at suing Apple for the logo less than two years ago (that was going on for years…)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4983796.stm
The Judge is a Windowz user.
I’m currently writing my bachelor in economics, about branding – and if that new logo gets out, it can hurt apple in the MILLIONS.
So it’s a serious matter.
don’t start to seriously believe the scheisse they tell you in economics classes
those are the guys that began this whole mess
@ Wankstar Explain how NYC using an apple that looks different from Apple is going to “hurt apple in the MILLIONS”?
@2: YOU MUST BE KIDDING
… first of all apple’s logo is a shape … NY’s a letter “N” or an eternity sign … NY’s logo is really “smart” … and i can’t be mistaken for Apple’s one
hmmm … maybe all apples are property of Apple Inc. … maybe we should change the name of the fruit … lets try “upple” … no wait … not good enoug … try “ubble”
just because you hear about it in the US doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen anywhere else.
let’s bash americans – the non-american policy
Yay! It took exactly 3 posts to turn this into an “America Sucks” thread.
While I understand trademark infringement, I don’t see how it applies here. Macintosh and their rainbow fruit logo of old has no resemblance whatsoever to NY’s trademark-no matter what color their precious apple is. Discretion is imposed for a reason-common sense tells you this case is a sham. Free publicity for all!
Perhaps apple will sue everyone that uses an apple as a symbol…
Good luck with the Bible Apple, Eve will never take a bite out of a lap top, no matter what version you read….
As a Canadian I don’t think this case has anything to do with being American, it just has to do with a greedy as hell electronics giant that wants to control every single aspect of anything it touches. That company could be from anywhere it just happens to be from California in this case. Apple is the hardware equivalent of Microsoft. They are replacing Sony and IBM as the current hardware Nazis of our time. Though you do have to admit that taking legal action against anyone and everyone has replaced baseball as the great American past time. This type of $#!% has to stop, the judge should give Apple a slap over this one.
make that a slap with a 2″4″
THE only similarity between Apple’s logo and NYC’s logo is that is based on the fruit apple. visually it is two distinct different logo’s and I can’t imagine this lawsuit would go in any other direction than a ruling against Apple Inc. and a hefty compensation to the defendant NYC.
On a side note,
Martin. why did you use a green apple logo?
It would have been so much better if you had made a picture showing the ORIGINAL Apple logo and New York City’s “GreeNYC” apple logo side by side.
I believe it would clear out a lot of confusion going on in this thread..
They’re nothing alike!
those things do not look the same….
Why doesn’t Apple just “trademark” the apple fruit instead? The NYC Green Apple logo doesn’t even look remotely the same with Apple’s green logo. Why all the fuzz? Other than the single similarity that both logos from each party are based on the apple fruit, what else is there? Just imagine Company X suing/battling Company Z just because Company X was “the first” to use the image of the Earth for their logo. Sheesh.
When a design team came up with this logo, you can bet it was passed to the patent lawyers for review before the city finally chose it. Apple doesn’t stand a chance.
How ironic… Greed and apple. History is repeated.
And they both stole it from the Beatles
Does this
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/7fee89c95c.jpg
look like this?
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/8ff869b245.jpg
#2 – Donetelllo and Apple are idiots!!!
If this is a April Fools joke, this is a little bit too late.
This is just stupid, just like whenever the World Wildlife Fund sued the World Wrestling Federation.
Or something like this…..
http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/34424/detail/
I wonder why this company didn’t sue the world on this one…..
what an absolute JOKE! they look nothing alike and i hope apple LOSES!!
wasting taxpayer’s money on this crap. disgusting
This “challenge” of trademark registration happens all the time. You just never hear about them. However, now that Apple challenges something it’s seen as a big deal… This whole thing is totally blown out of proportion, since this is basically a common practice.
It has nothing to due with suing, and those who confuse it with such just show their ignorance.
wasting taxpayer’s money on this crap. disgusting.
http://www.ultimateuploader.com/files/9812applez.png
lol….noo similarity..
Apple has become more and more like Microsoft
I hope EU takes some class lawsuits against them for no reason whatsoever
Not to long ago release log had an article about air mac , being cracked in less then 2 minutes
is that any safer then any windows or just as much as a pile of cr4p
where is the safety ? where !!!?
Please think of the children
also its funny how fast apple opened up iPhone to the European market
Check this apple logo out: http://petersautoradio.com/
The reason I believe apple is sueing is because the average american is stupid and in seeing the greenNYC logo they could think OOHMFG the new apple logo. Just my ยข2
@57, “The reason I believe apple is sueing…”
Aren’t you better off saving those pennies for basic education?
@58
so, because I spelled one word wrong the entire argument is flawed… granted apple is not actually suing anyone, but give me a break… You can’t see how Apple would be upset about another apple logo coming out for the entire state of new york to see? The average person really isn’t that intelligent – look at some of the posts on this site for example – and brand recognition means a hell of a lot to any company. Maybe you don’t know much about running a company, and I understand I’m being immature in attacking you, but you have to realize that consumers are EASILY confused and a lot of people wouldn’t take the time to discern the difference.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/03/apple-vs-nyc-whats-really-going-on/
Wow, lovely, Apple try to sue a non-profit initiative to promote environmentally friendly lifestyles. Next thing you know they’ll try to sue children with mental disabilities for walking around with a half-bitten off apple in one hand.
On another note, why did this guy post that green apple logo in this news item? The actual GreeNYC logo looks absolutely nothing like the apple logo, other than they’re both apples. I suppose Apple now legally owns the fruit
I see a difference… just look here
http://www.ultimateuploader.com/files/9812applez.png
If you can’t tell those apart, then that’s just……..
Apple shouldn’t be worried about it’s customers being confused, because anyone who owns any kind of apple product obviously recognizes the brand/logo….
I believe Apple is acting like an assshole and just thinking about themselves, while the Big Apple is thinking about a greener future.
Apple is the fail.
NOOO ONE in the world can use common items as logos anymore, as long as one person or company have ever used it before in the history of man!
do you wnat to enjoy your life now?
what do they do to relax theirselves?
want to know,come here.ill show you what i search?
look at the super star,listen some music,diy-t-shirt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sfJhhN1rcA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V19SvSUYYOs
http://www.diy-t-shirt.com