Shining moments in Apple rumorery
February 5, 2007September 2003
Fox:
The inevitable has happened: The Beatles have sued Steve Jobs over Apple iTunes and the Apple iPod — at least the band’s company, Apple Corps., has sued Apple Computers.
BBC:
He [Geoffrey Vos] argued the US computing giant violated the deal by selling music online and its argument that it used the apple mark only in connection with a delivery system was “plainly wrong”.
Mr Vos told the court that calling iTunes a mere electronic device was a “perversion” of the 1991 deal.
September 2004
“People are expecting this to be the biggest settlement anywhere in legal history, outside of a class action suit. The numbers could be mind boggling.”
Word among the legal community is that an out of court settlement could be imminent and that it will massively dwarf the $26.5 million paid to the Fab Four’s company in 1991 in a row over trademark use.
The positively giddy and totally whacky Register:
In addition to a monster pay-out, speculation about the Apple-Apple settlement centres on Paul McCartney taking a seat on Apple Comp.’s board or the Corp. taking a wodge of Comp. shares.
May 2006
Apple Computer has beaten the Beatles’ Apple Corps in a court battle over the iTunes Music Store. The suit came down to a logo, the Associated Press reports. “Apple Corps contended that the computer company had broken a 1991 agreement in which each side agreed not to enter into the other’s field of business. But Judge Edward Mann ruled that the logo was used in association with the store, not the music, and thus was not a breach of the agreement.”
BBC:
Apple Corps must pay its rival’s legal bill, estimated at £2m, but the judge refused an interim payment of £1.5m pending further hearings.
February 2007
Under a new deal that replaces one reached in 1991, Apple Inc. will own all of the trademarks related to “Apple” and license some of those back to Apple Corps Ltd., the Beatles’ record label. The trademark lawsuit between the companies will be withdrawn. Terms of the settlement are confidential.
