A Saanich web design school is holding its ground, following a threat by Apple to take legal action if the local firm does not change a corporate logo it has used since 2005. Calling his company a dedicated customer that uses Apple hardware and software almost exclusively in its operation, Victoria School of Business and Technology vice-president Christopher Boag said he and partner Dieter Gerhard were surprised to receive a strongly worded letter with no advance warning.
"It was a total shock," he said. "It was like the small guy was kind of getting blown away and Apple was pushing hard in order to get us to (submit to their demands)."
Boag and Gerhard argue that the apple is a "traditional representation of education" and that the logo in question, which incorporates the mountain logo of a sister company and has the words VSBT in one corner, in no way can be confused with the Apple logo.
View: School Victoria
However the web school's logo doesn't have a bit taken out of it, and the shape is slightly different.
The image of an apple was being used long before Apple Computers came onto the scene, so I hope the judge throws this one out.
****
Off
Maybe in a shadow or silhouette, but it is a school that use almost all Apple stuff.
Bah....Apple-shmapple
They are a monster and I hope the economic crises beats the hell out of them.
I mean really,The Beatles had an Apple logo/company long before any of this...get real Apple.
In the bit at the top which says
"Posted by rm20010 via Victoria News"
click the Victoria News link.
In the bit at the top which says
"Posted by rm20010 via Victoria News"
click the Victoria News link.
Haha. Owned.
"It went on to say such use infringes upon Apple's trademark registrations and legal rights, which it claimed allow Apple the "exclusive right to use its trademarks and any confusingly similar trademarks and trade names" to market its products and services."
Who are they kidding? Even if only a millimeter is different it is not the same logo and the court will never take in consideration "similar".
The Nike swoosh is fairly unique, but an everyday item like an apple or a window cannot really be effectively protected, nor should it be. Much like Amazon trying to take ownership of the "shopping cart" concept or AOLs failed attempt at patenting it's "TV channel" interface in the late 90s. Some ideas have so much prior art in real life they are a bad choice to try and protect.
Give me a break, Why can't other companies have something involving an Apple. Besides that outer part the rest is different and theres no way people could mistake them.
I'm surprised anyone can be surprised when Apple's litigation machine kicks in. They aren't a friendly company.
Just when I think an Apple product looks interesting, their arrogance gets the best of them and they lash out and remind me why I don't own a single product of theirs.
Microsoft has sued companies for the same silly logo/copyright crap that Apple is doing. They sued several times for domain names that could possible be mistaken for a MS site. Companies do this all the time.
And I said "fairness" because everyone seems to beat up on Apple or Microsoft depending on what the topic is about. I am pro MS, tho I dont go out of my way to bash Apple.
Microsoft has sued companies for the same silly logo/copyright crap that Apple is doing. They sued several times for domain names that could possible be mistaken for a MS site. Companies do this all the time.
And I said "fairness" because everyone seems to beat up on Apple or Microsoft depending on what the topic is about. I am pro MS, tho I dont go out of my way to bash Apple.
Name one case where Microsoft has sued another site over a logo, or any domain name suit as ridiculous as this. Stop trolling, this has nothing to do with anyone but Apple. Besides even if they did, does that excuse Apple? Someone else did it so it's ok?
Microsoft has sued companies for the same silly logo/copyright crap that Apple is doing. They sued several times for domain names that could possible be mistaken for a MS site. Companies do this all the time.
And I said "fairness" because everyone seems to beat up on Apple or Microsoft depending on what the topic is about. I am pro MS, tho I dont go out of my way to bash Apple.
You're referring to the MikeRoweSoft.com domain, and the Lindows name. Those were justified lawsuits, as:
1. They could cause confusion by either mimicking a company's name and or product name.
2. They competed directly against Microsoft.
You can't apply those two points to this Apple lawsuit. The logos are completely different, and the school doesn't sell computer goods.
This is just another typical day in Apple's law department. What is disappointing is that the school seems to be proud of using mostly Apple products but still get a nasty little threat. If you think Apple will love you for using their product you are delusional.
Apple users are hardcore masochists. The more you hurt them (screw them/robe them) the more they love you.
another reason for me to hate Apple. Monster Cables and Apple should get married, so i can kill them both on their honeymoon.
http://www.bestapples.com/
http://www.minnesotaapple.org/
http://www.bigapplegreeter.org/
http://www.waga.org/
VSBT is a Microsoft Certified Partner and i think Apple is just ****ed off they are not a certified partner like Microsoft is. there's nothing on that page that even resembles anything to do with Apple, other than the poll about this lawsuit. ****ing corporate hate mongers need to die....seriously
Saving their asses I guess...
Hearing news like this makes me happy to build my own computer, instead of buying into that "i" marketing.
FTL FTL FTL
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.