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Apple to NYC's Green Logo: No No No

by , 11:45 PM EDT, April 4th, 2008

Apple Inc. is not at all sanguine about New York City's efforts to go green, at least when it comes to the logo the city is trying to trademark. Cupertino, CA-based Apple Inc. has filed a challenge against a federal trademark registration effort by GreeNYC, saying the logo (see below) the nonprofit is trying to trademark is too similar to Apple's own logo, which has been in use since 1977.


Apple Inc.'s logo

The GreeNYC logo

The International Business Times reported that GreeNYC's position is that the infinity apple symbol and the group's environmental approach were unique, a key word in the area of registered trademarks, and that there was no infringement.

There are many and sundry apple elements in logos for just as many and sundry businesses throughout the U.S., some of which operate and compete on a national level, and many more which compete and operate on a local or regional level. One of the testing areas for trademarks is often whether or not the businesses compete in the same market, and whether or not a logo could cause confusion in the marketplace.

Apple could have a tough challenge on its hands for that test, and the differences in the logos themselves could be an issue. While both the GreeNYC and Apple Inc. logos share a single leaf element, which point in different directions, differences between the two include the infinity element, the bite, and the stem.

On the other end of the spectrum is the tourism company in Vietnam featured in the photo below. That company, whose name this reporter was not able to find during a trip to Vietnam in 2002, was all over the roads of central and northern Vietnam, and all their vans and tourist busses featured Apple Computer's (as Apple Inc. was known then) original six-colored rainbow logo. In any event, that was a clear case of trademark infringement, but in a country where protection for those trademarks was (and is) largely nonexistent.


On the back of tourist bus is the logo of the Vietnamese tourist company, a logo stolen in its entirety from Apple. Inc.

Observer Comments

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View Name:Guest
Subject: Apple to NYC's Green Logo: No No No
View Name:Guest
Subject:
View Name:Guest
Subject: typo: busses == kisses
View Name:Guest
Subject: wha-huh?
View Name:Guest
Subject: The Fall of Man...
View Name:Guest
Subject: Apple Logo Issue
Close Name:LaurieF -   TMO Forum Mod Posts: 3468 Joined: 15 Jun 2001
Subject:

Guest number - oh I can't remember - it was about three messages ago - who thought that the plural as busses was a synonym for kisses. Well, you're right. But busses is also an alternative plural for bus.

So if you're getting confused in that area, don't try blowing up a bus: you'll burn your lips on the exhaust pipe.

As for the previous - well I can't stop myself - idiot: you know nothing. If nothing else, you think that New York City is "the little guy"? Upoko kohua!

View Name:Guest
Subject: apple has some balls.
View Name:Guest
Subject: ironic
View Name:Guest
Subject: Apples to Oranges, Image Attached!
View Name:Guest
Subject: Apple is a hypocrite
Close Name:macinnerd Posts: 1621 Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Subject:

Guest, you think that Apple respects nobody's intellectual property?

Do Microsoft, etc. respect anyone's intellectual property? Not really. So quit whining.

View Name:Guest
Subject: Once again, they don't own it.
View Name:Guest
Subject:
Close Name:Sir Harry Flashman Posts: 583 Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Subject: Missing an opportunity

The question of the logo being to similar is a matter for lawyers, but I think that Apple Computer is missing an opportunity to work with NYC for mutual benefit. As the old saying goes "You can't buy publicity like this." Something like Environmentally friendly computers for an environmentally conscious city, something like that.

I suspect that there are a number of logos out there that are remarkably similar to Apple Inc.

Speaking of legalese, I request a sidebar with the Guest who worked as a graphic artist. You sound like a very knowledgeable graphic artist and it would great to have you has a regular poster on this blog.

View Name:Guest
Subject: It looks different to me
View Name:Guest
Subject: Apple
Close Name:Intruder -   TMO Mac Specialist Posts: 2846 Joined: 07 Jul 2004
Subject:

Wow. Haven't seen this many ignorant and FUD'ish posts in one thread in quite a while.

View Name:Guest
Subject: Apples to Apples
View Name:Guest
Subject: Hmmm...
View Name:Guest
Subject: Where is Paul McCartney?
Close Name:daemon Posts: 305 Joined: 17 May 2007
Subject:

New York City is known as the Big Apple, using apple elements in a New York City based environmental group's logo seems perfectly acceptable to me. I hope the judge agrees with me and orders Apple Inc. to pay greeNYC's legal fees and Attorney costs.

Close Name:burreyeann Posts: 1077 Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Subject:

Has Apple sued the MAPB as well?

http://www.marylandapples.org/

Close Name:Sir Harry Flashman Posts: 583 Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Subject: They should sue them

Quote
burreyeann wrote:
Has Apple sued the MAPB as well?

http://www.marylandapples.org/


They should sue them, not for the logo, but for that looping animation

Seriously I bet that there is a lot of businesses and organizations that have apple in their name and have an apple in their logo.

View Name:Guest
Subject: not a cookie-cut of Apple's logo
View Name:Guest
Subject: apple logo
View Name:Guest
Subject: Apple logo
View Name:Guest
Subject: Get Real Apple Inc !!!!
View Name:Guest
Subject: bus log
View Name:Guest
Subject: APPLE IS BEING STUPID
Close Name:Sir Harry Flashman Posts: 583 Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Subject: Taking a byte out of the Big Apple

"There's also no bite in NYCgreen logo - and everybody knows about Apple's bite."

Good point about the bite, or is that bight?, freaking homophones will drive you nuts. Anyway it is what makes the Apple Inc logo distinctive from other apple themed logos.

Nothing like a little controversy to stir up interest in NYC's program, Apple Inc products, and to sustain the existence of blog trolls.

View Name:Guest
Subject: How Petty of Steve Jobs
View Name:Guest
Subject: WHO CARES!!!!
View Name:Guest
Subject:
View Name:Guest
Subject: Clearly Too Much
View Name:Guest
Subject:
View Name:Guest
Subject: AS logo & cheeks
View Name:Guest
Subject:
Close Name:Sir Harry Flashman Posts: 583 Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Subject: Saddle up!

Quote
Guest wrote:
Hey the GreeNYC logo looks like butt cheeks!!


Hmmm, I saw a saddle in the design, with the stem as the pommel. There is a "connection", butts sit on saddles. Lots of great word play here, pomme is French for Apple.

View Name:Guest
Subject:
View Name:Guest
Subject: with all the issues in the world
View Name:Guest
Subject: Funny.
View Name:Guest
Subject: Wow that's really pathetic of Apple...
View Name:Guest
Subject: Err...
View Name:Guest
Subject: Apple = Dr. Evil
View Name:Guest
Subject: FUD posts
View Name:Guest
Subject: confusing similarity
View Name:Guest
Subject:
View Name:Guest
Subject: I had to take my Apple off my pages Too
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