Apple Wins Beatles Trademark Dispute

A British judge has ruled in favor of Apple Computer over the Beatle's Apple Corps., finding the computer maker's logo promotes its music store, not the music itself.

U.K. Justice Anthony Mann has found in favor of Apple Computer in its trademark dispute with the Beatles’ Apple Corps, ruling that Apple Computer’s use of its Apple logo in association with its iTunes Music Store is not a violation of the companies’ 1991 trademark sharing agreement.

The two companies have had a long history of conflict over the use of the Apple trademark, most recently culminating in a reports $26.5 million settlement in 1991 which enables Apple Computer to use the Apple trademark in the computer business, while the Beatles’ Apple Corps would use the trademark in the music business. Apple Corps felt Apple’s Computer’s successful iTunes Music Store was a violation of that agreement and clearly put the computer maker in the music business.

However, Justice Mann ruled today that Apple Computer’s use of the Apple logo on the iTunes Music Store was to promote the service itself as an “electronic shop,” and did not constitute a breach of the 1991 agreement.

Apple Corps, of course, plans to appeal. It had sought damages from Apple Computer, and wanted the company to stop using the Apple logo on its digital music services.