When Jobs named his computer company in homage to his favourite
group, he soon found himself facing a trade mark infringement
claim. The 1981 case was resolved out of court, with Apple Computer
paying an undisclosed amount to Apple Corps. Jobs also agreed to
restrict the use of his brand to computer products only.
In 1989, Apple Corps again sued Apple computer, this time over
the company's use and sale of music-related software. The case
settled in 1991 with a payment of $27 million and another
restrictive agreement.
A statement released by Apple Corps in September confirmed that
the latest lawsuit is over "the use by Apple Computer of the word
'Apple' and apple logos in conjunction with its new application for
downloading pre-recorded music from the internet".
The current hearing, expected to last around three days, is only
considering whether the UK court can hear the case, or whether the
suit should have been brought in California.
Apple Computer was slapped with another suit, earlier in the
week, when Eminem's publisher, Eight Mile Style, accused the
company of copyright infringement.
According to Reuters, the rap star's company has sued Apple
Computer, its MTV subsidiary Viacom, and an advertising agency over
an advert shown on MTV and on the Apple web site, which included a
boy singing part of Eminem's hit "Lose Yourself". The rapper, born
Marshall Mathers, had not given his permission.
Reuters quotes from the lawsuit: "Eminem has never nationally
endorsed any commercial products and therefore he indicated, though
his manager, that even if he were interested in endorsing a
product, any endorsement deal would require a significant amount of
money, possibly in excess of $10 million".
