Apple understandably fights hard to protect its brand, but the company’s legal action over a pear logo seems more than a little overzealous.
As iPhone in Canada reports, meal cooking app company Prepear filed a trademark for its pair-shaped logo back in January 2017. However, on the last day of the window to oppose the trademark filing, Apple requested an extension to the window to oppose, and as Prepear COO Russ Monson describes it, “put our trademark in legal limbo.” Attempts to discuss the matter with Apple directly apparently failed and the opposition progressed to the discovery phase.
MacRumors notes that in the trademark opposition paperwork filed by Apple the company states, “Consumers encountering Applicant’s Mark are likely to associate the mark with Apple. Applicant’s Mark consists of a minimalistic fruit design with a right-angled leaf, which readily calls to mind Apple’s famous Apple Logo and creates a similar commercial impression.” I’ll leave it up to readers to decide how valid that claim is.
Prepear decided to launch a petition on Change.org called “Save the Pear from Apple! End Apple’s Aggressive Opposition of Businesses with Fruit Logos.” Monson explains that, “We believe that this case is clearly frivolous, and that once the public is aware of Apple’s position on this that Apple will be more willing to drop the case rather than have the public see how they are clearly harming us for no apparent justifiable reason.” At the time of writing, over 26,500 people have signed Prepear’s petition.
