Apple Threatens to Sue Tiny German Café Whose Logo Is an Apple
There is only one Apple. It is big and powerful and it rules our lives, elegantly. So don't **** with them. That's what the owners of Apfelkind, a small, family-owned café in Bonn, Germany, have come to learn.
They recently tried to register their logo — a child's face inside a red apple (apfelkind means "apple child" in German) — as a trademark, with an eye towards putting it on mugs, lampshades, bags, clothing and other merchandise.
The filing was quickly met with a cease-and-desist letter from the tech giant, who claimed the two logos were too similar and might lead to confusion in the marketplace. But they underestimated the spunkiness of the small-business-owning everyfrau.
From the German newspaper General-Anzeiger:
"The company probably thought I would back out immediately after I received the letter," says [Apfelkind owner Christin Römer]. But she hasn't done that. On the contrary. "My lawyer has now appealed the motion."
We wish the best of luck to the tenacious Ms. Römer, who is about to feel the full fury of Apple's notoriously unsparing legal department. Not only will her little red doodle be wiped off the face of the planet forever, but she should now prepare for long delays on all software upgrades, and for her complimentary iCloud service to work patchily at best. Follow #Apfelkind on Google+ for more information on the coffee shop's David vs. Goliath troubles. [general-anzeiger-bonn.de via lxnews.org]
