Image: TG Daily
Australian supermarket chain Woolworths has gone too far with its logo, according to Apple’s intellectual property lawyers. Concerned that “‘consumers may not be able to differentiate between the two brands,” Apple lawyers have told Australia’s intellectual property regulators to ban the logo. Mashable has more:
When it comes to defending their trademarks and logos, no company is more fervent than Apple. If they could challenge Victoria School of Business and Technology for having a logo too similar to theirs, then you can certainly expect them to sue Woolworths, especially if Woolworths’ trademark application is a blanket one, extending to electrical goods and technology.
Woolworths nowadays sells a wide variety of goods. A Woolworths spokesman said: ”While we can’t rule anything out, we haven’t got any plans (when it comes to computers and gadgetry) at the moment.” But is their logo an apple, or does it even look like one? The Australian-based Woolworths claims that their logo is simply a stylized “W” paired with an “abstract leaf symbol”. One could, however, also say that it’s a stylized person with outstretched arms, or an “apple being peeled”.
Woolworths has tried to avoid using the word “apple”, and the designer of the logo, Hans Hulsbosch, claims Apple is taking things too far. ”Based on this logic, they would have to take action against every fruit-seller,” he said. However, one has to admit that the two logos have similarities, and that there’s actually a good chance (unlike the Victoria School of Business and Technology’s case) of Woolworths selling devices similar to those sold by Apple.
If Woolworths logo really looks like an apple, does that mean Apple owns the rights to all apple symbols? Apple’s legal chest-thumping seems like a stretch.
