The Beatles’ Apple Corps Label Suing Apple Computer Over iPod, iTMS

September 11th, 2003 at 3:00 PM - News by Bryan Chaffin

Iill buy you a diamond ring my friend
If it makes you feel all right
Iill get you anything my friend
If it makes you feel all right
iCause I donit care too much for money
For money canit buy me love

- "Canit Buy Me Love," by Lennon/McCartney

When Appleis iTunes Music Store was new, there were rumblings that Apple Corps, the Beatlesi record label, could possibly sue Apple Computer once again for breaching an agreement between the two companies that stipulated that Apple Computer would stay out of the music business.

The last such legal victory was in 1999, when The Beatles won a payment of US$26 million from Apple Computer. That payment was supposed to have been the final action of a 1990 court case, where The Beatles successfully sued Apple for breach of a 1981 an agreement not to make musical products. The agreement was reached when The Beatles and Apple Corps. took exception to the very name of Apple when the company was formed in 1977.

Fox News reported late yesterday that Eversheds of London, the Beatles and Apple Corpsi law firm, is suing Apple for breach of contract, citing the iPod and the iTMS. From Fox News:

"When it first happened with the iPod, we said, "What could they be thinking?" said a Beatles legal insider, who agreed that posters announcing the iPod from "AppleMusic" were among the most egregious violations. "They knew we had the agreement, and that weid won a lot of money from them already."

Fox News also reports that the lawsuit was filed a "short time ago." You can read the full article at Fox Newsi Web site.