Miscellaneous

Apple tries to take a bite out of the Big Apple

New York City has this new initiative called GreeNYC, the goal of which is reduce carbon emissions by 30% in the next 22 years. And they've got this nifty little logo you see right over there, with a cute little apple-thinger because of, you know, the whole "Big Apple" thing.

Anyway, greeNYC filed for a federal trademark registration for that image, and now Apple, the computer/iPod company, has stepped in to oppose the registration. Apple says the nonprofit's little apple is too damn close to Apple's own silver apple. Which is fucking preposterous. First of all, they're not all that similar, beyond the fact the fact that both are apples. Second of all, the standard is likelihood of confusion, and I don't how Apple is going to credibly argue that a good number of people are likely to see the greeNYC logo and think that Apple must be associated with the carbon reduction initiative.

Luckily, greeNYC has a backup logo, involving the slogan "iPlan for Carbon Reduction." Apple surely won't have any problems with that.

Full post as published by Quiz Law on April 08, 2008 (boomark / email).