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Comment by lazerwalker | Hacker News Reader

Can you substantiate this claim at all? I'd love to hear how Apple is trying to extort money from coffee shops and grocery stores.

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Sure! Though I'd love if people would ask this question before giving negative votes. Anyway, before you read these, just try to be a bit impartial towards any side, which is generally difficult for Apple fans.

(Tell me very honestly, if you think the logo of this small coffee shop in Germany has really any similarity with Apple's logo, except the fact that both of them are derived from the fruit apple!) http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1231539-Apple-sues-small...

That poor woman just sold coffee, not electronic devices. Any sane mind would not find any 'infringement', unless they believe Apple 'owns' the fruit itself now.

Second, they sue an online GROCERY shop from Poland since its website name is "a.pl". ".pl" is the top level domain code for Poland, a is the first alphabet. Even they are not competing with Apple in any manner, but it claims "they are using our reputation". WTF! http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2409669,00.asp

They always know that small businesses can't fight back, so they are easy targets. No, please don't come up with arguments like "What's wrong with defending your brand?". This is NOT defending your brand. There's no brand name getting hurt here. You just think you own the fruit.

Apple is using trademark law to ensure that no one can do to Apple what Apple did to the Beatles.

You mean what Apple Records did to Apple Inc?

There is still a difference between what Apple Records did to Apple Inc. and what Apple Inc. is doing to these small shop owners for something not even remotely same. That coffee house logo is a "pure, unadulterated picture" of the fruit apple, in a natural red color - and a child's head inside. Everyone who thinks it's infringement should be declared insane.

Oh wow. This is amazing. Is this what it has all come to? Your multi-billion dollar company is gonna sue some small time grocery store in Poland claiming to 'use their reputation?'

Yeah, will be discouraging anyone I know from buying their products (not that I liked them to begin with)

These lawsuits are an unfortunate business practice, but Apple is not alone here. I'm not a big fan of them, but that's the way the game is played.

Other corporations do this all the time, but apart from the Olympic Committee, which sues anyone and anything with "Olympic" in their name, most don't have a regular English word as their name. This leads to more conflict in practice, and Apple must, according to the law, work harder to "defend" their brand or have it weakened.

You should read this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark_dilution

Different standards apply to famous marks vs. regular trademarks. Imagine if a company which made heavy mining equipment had a logo of a swoosh with a hardhat inside. Would Nike be justified in claiming trademark dilution? Absolutely. Or if that same heavy mining equipment manufacturer had a logo of a big rounded arching M with a hardhat on it. McDonalds would legitimately claim dilution there as well, even though the restaurant has no plans to get into the mining industry. These situations would not be dissimilar to an apple logo with a child's head inside.

It's easy to say "poor woman" but the cafe owner must comply with trademark law, imperfect as it is. I hope she prevails actually. However, the process must be allowed to continue. She filed for a trademark application. Apple has apparently contested the trademark registration and sent the cafe owner a cease & desist letter on the side, hoping she'll voluntarily withdraw the application. She doesn't want to withdraw, so now it's in the hands of the German trademark office to sort out.

You really think the only thing different in those two logos is that there's a child's head inside right? How would you draw a real red apple fruit? If I was good in drawing, this is the closest I'd get to a real apple. It's definitely saying no one can use the fruit anymore, since a company chose to keep it's own name by that. She filed for a trademark application, but there must be someone insane sitting in Cupertino who thought they'd milk her on that.

The funniest part is who would have even known someone was using another logo with an apple, in Germany. If not for Apple itself making a bid deal about it.

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