cem@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Malloy) (02/24/89)
APPLE SUIT ROCKS COMPUTER COMPANY
San Francisco Examiner
SAN FRANCISCO - John, Paul, George and Ringo sang "All You Need Is
Love." But their company is now asking Apple Computer Inc. for a lot
of cash.
In a legal rift likely to rock Liverpool and Silicon Valley, the
company that represents the Beatles is suing Apple Computer over
trademark rights to the name "Apple" and the company's logo - a
chromatic apple with a bite out of it.
The suit, filed in London, involves an accord worked out secretly
in 1981 between the Cupertino, Calif., computer company and Apple
Corps Ltd., said Carleen LeVasseur, a spokeswoman for Apple Computer.
The agreement's existence was not known publicly until Tuesday.
The Beatles' management company, which had released some of the
rock group's records on a record label it tagged "Apple," claims to
have granted the computer company the rights to the name, but with a
provision: that Apple Computer not enter the music business.
Today's Apple computers, both its Macintosh and Apple II lines, can
produce music far more sophisticated than "She Loves You" and can
connect to advanced electronic musical instruments. Thus it exceeds
the bounds of the accord, Apple Corps claims.
"We have not received a copy of the complaint and have not been
able to review it," said LeVasseur. "We don't believe we're in breach
of the 1981 agreement."
Most lawyers doubt that Apple Computer will be forced to surrender
its logo, change its name, or stop selling computers. But the
Beatles' lawyers may have the last laugh, many agreed.
"I can't imagine them having to surrender it [the name]," said
Carey Heckman, a copyright expert and legal counsel for Excelan Inc.,
a computer network firm in San Jose. "But I can imagine them having
to pay a settlement."
Some friends of Apple Computer co-founder Steven Jobs said he chose
the company name because of his occasional work picking apples at a
friend's orchard in Oregon. Jobs has said he liked the idea that his
would be the first computer company listed in the telephone book.
Steve Wozniak, Apple Computer's other founder, said in an interview
he know nothing of the trademark agreement.
=======
Re-Printed without permission.
Aside from the fact that a record company is suing a computer company,
which I think is both a stitch (very, very funny) and poetic justice
(in the light of all the suing that Apple has done ("Apple vs EVERY
PERSON AND/OR COMPANY THAT HAS EVER DONE ANYTHING WITH A COMPUTER THAT
APPLE COMPUTER DOESN'T SELL), how many puns can you find in the article?
Send me your list of the puns (explanations optional) to me. I will
post the results. I found at least five.
From inside the Tesseract of
Clancy Malloy
(att!ihlpf!cem)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Everyone looked up and realized that we were only tenants of this world; |
| We have been given a new lease, and a warning, from the landlord. |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------