“When the Apple Corps first sued Apple Computer Inc. in 1981 (winning a reported $80,000) over its trademark I thought the computer maker should have fought harder because the dispute wasn’t going to go away. Sure enough, a few years later in 1989, Apple paid Apple Corps $26 million. You’d think that would have covered all the possibilities. But no. This week they’re at it again,” John C. Dvorak writes for MarketWatch.
“Originally it began with a suit over the image of an Apple and Apple Computer promising not to get into the music business. Then it got into the music business in an offhand way with a music-making program, but it lost again and promised not to actually distribute CD’s or music. Now, of course, it distributes music with iTunes and this meant another drink from the well of good fortune by the ever-alert Apple Corps,” Dvorak writes. “The irony to all this is the fact that Apple Computer has a long history of suing people itself and now is getting a taste of its own medicine. I recall Apple Computer suing the Pineapple computer company for making a clone of the Apple II. Apple essentially put Pineapple out of business. There has been a lot of litigation with this company but it cannot seem to break free of this Apple Corps operation, which must be finding this easy money just too good to pass up.”
“Unless the British courts cave to the Americans, all that can be done is to open the pocketbook and dole out another few million to the already loaded owners of Apple Corps,” Dvorak writes. “This shouldn’t hurt the bottom line to any real extent during a period of rapid growth. But what it does do is reinforce the notion of karma on the somewhat spiritual and ascetic Steve Jobs. After all it was during his first reign at Apple that the company itself first became litigious. In an effort to save the money, though, I would suggest that the company change its name for good. Offer a million dollars to the public-at-large in a competition to rename the company. That would do the job and get the publicity needed for it to be promotional. Why not?”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Wha?
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Dvorak is a true idiot.
Don’t click the link, it’s a troll to get hit traffic.
Apple is not going to throw away 30 years of brand recognigition for some tired record label that hasn’t produced anything in years.
They will die and Apple will live forever under Vista.
Well. . . thats a stupid suggestion.
LEt’s call it… Guava!
Yeah right. One of the top ten WORLD recognized corporate name & log.
Amazing how some people think. How do some people retain jobs. No pun intended.
His next column will be to advise IBM and Coca Cola to do the same I imagine.
Logo. sorry
MacDude said “Dvorak is a true idiot.”
IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE DUDE!
I lovbe the Dvorak/USassumption that british courts are as racist as he expects US curts to be. Most of the Beatles’ music rioghts are now owned by MJ, now resident somewhere in the Gulf, and Apple Corp is somewhere in the Carribean, so let’s wait and see how the judge sorts out ambiguous prior agreements. This is essentially a story of incompetent lawyers.
Dvorak must be smoking some good stuff.
It’s a true Dvorak.
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Dvorak is smoking good stuff and MacDudes been sniffing airplane glue!
Dvorak is Dvorced from reality and any sense of worthwhile journalism. The dude doesn’t Dserve blog space, let alone an article on MarketWatch. Who listens to this guy?
Ooh, ooh, let’s call it Orange instead!
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Of course, that would open up a whole different can of worms in the UK, what with the mobile phone provider and all…
Let’s just ignore the fact that Apple sued Pineapple for making AppleII knock offs (along with Franklin). Franklin was smart enought to re-inent itself making translation devices.
The Apple brand is ranked as one of the most recognized brands in commerce. Changing the name and brand recognition would cost FAR more in lost revenues than doling out a few million here and there to Apple Corp.
Why does Dvorak feel he is qualified to speak on marketing and brand recognition? I thought he was a tech writer. Nothing is more irksome than reading the drivel of columnists who write about topics they have no qualifications to write about.
It would cost Apple more than the 26 million that their last settelment cost just to change the logos on their stores.
Dvorak is a master of branding. He’s branded himself SHIT
Bob – something that floats in a toilet bowl
Elppa Cam Computer Corp.
MW: example
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Dvorak is a clueless moron.
He knows nothing about the technicalities involved in such matters.
Don’t feed the trolls.
MDN – sellouts to Microsoft advertising when they said they would never do such a thing
Engineers at MIT have applied special decoding to the word Dvorak and have successfully translated it to mean “needledick pinhead”. With this cryptic bit of code they broke it down further and discovered another hidden meaning….. MacDude!
I’m surprised he didn’t suggest Dvorak as a new name for Apple Computer.
With his writing, we all know he could probably use the litigation income.
You know, you can use the name but you can’t produce anything that has anything to do with writing, blogging or audio and video podcasting. What’s that? You do! Lawsuit! Show me some money!
Isn’t DVORAK like QWERTY?
This is actually going to be the announcement on April 1: Apple has officially changed its name to Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Computers.
people, please. This is obviously an April Fools column.