Legal battles can be a bit surreal at times. Since August 2020, Apple has been in a legal tussle with a meal-planning company called Super Healthy Kids over a logo for its Prepear app which Apple thought was a bit too much like its own.
Apple’s fruity logo, consisting of a cartoon apple with a bite out of it, and a single leaf, has been used since the late 1970s. Super Healthy Kids’ much newer logo, meanwhile, consists of a cartoon pear with a single leaf.
For a while, it seemed as though the world wasn’t big enough for two fruit-inspired logos with jauntily angled leaves. Now the two companies have supposedly settled their grievances — and all it took was Super Healthy Kids redrafting the shape of the offending leaf in question.
Dilution of Distinctiveness
Apple’s legal argument was that the pear-shaped local could “cause dilution of the distinctiveness” of Apple’s iconic logo, which is up there with the Nike swoosh and a few select others as a globally recognized icon.
Prepear’s new logo is already displayed on the company’s website, and will show up on the app shortly. It takes the form of a half-moon-shaped leaf, rather than the previous pointed oval. Apple has consented to the change, as per documents filed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO.)
“Prepear is pleased to announce that it has amicably resolved its trademark issue with Apple,” company co-founder Russ Monson told The Verge.
Apple vs. Small Businesses
While it seems like an amicable settlement has been reached, at one point the clash between the two companies—one, as the world’s most valuable tech titan, a lot bigger than the other—seemed to get pretty contentious.
Following Apple’s original complaint, Prepear co-founder and COO Russell Monson set up a Change.org petition, criticizing Apple. The petition ultimately received 269,654 signatures. It has now been closed.
“Apple has been opposing small businesses with fruit-related logos by starting expensive legal action,” the petition noted, “even when those logos don’t look anything like Apple’s logo, or aren’t in the same line of business as Apple at all.”
It continued that many companies threatened by Apple had thrown in the towel because they “cannot afford the tens of thousands of dollars” such legal action costs. The team said that it is a “terrifying experience to be legally attacked by one of the largest companies in the world.”
Image Credit: Apple/Prepear