Beatles lose Apple logo battle

The Beatles lost the battle of the apple trademarks with US giant Apple Computer at the High Court today.

Apple Corps, the company owned by Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the families of George Harrison and John Lennon, wanted multimillion-pound damages from Apple Computer over the use of the apple logo in connection with its revolutionary online iTunes Music Store.

But Mr Justice Mann ruled that Apple Computer had not breached a trade mark agreement with Apple Corps by using the logo and name to sell music.

It was the latest round of a battle over logos between the two companies dating back to the early 1980s.

The 1991 trade mark agreement gave Apple Corps exclusive rights to use "apple" marks for the record business.

All had worked well and there had been peace between the two companies until the advent of the iPod, which can be used to download and save thousands of pre-recorded tracks via the internet.

Geoffrey Vos QC, representing Apple Corps, said Apple Computer had given the public access to 3.7 million tracks available worldwide and there had been one billion downloads through the Music Store website.

Apple Corps had wanted court orders to stop Apple Computer using the "apple" marks in connection with the iTunes Music Store and damages after an investigation into Apple Computer's profits.

Instead they were left with a multimillion-pound legal bill.

Lord Grabiner QC, representing the US company, asked Mr Justice Mann for £1.5 million interim payment for his side's costs, which could top more than another million.

Apple Corps must also pay its own legal costs, which would be a similar amount.

Neil Aspinall, manager of Apple Corps, said after the ruling was announced: "With great respect to the trial judge, we consider he has reached the wrong conclusion.

"We felt that during the course of the trial we clearly demonstrated just how extensively Apple Computer had broken the agreement.

"We will accordingly be filing an appeal and putting the case again to the Court of Appeal."

Nicholas Valner, Apple Corps' solicitor, said: "This is a particularly disappointing decision. The judgment is curious. So much of what the judge says is right. It will be noted that he rejected pretty much every argument advance by Lord Grabiner QC for Apple Computer.

The judge granted Apple Corps permission to appeal against his ruling.

Total costs of the action are estimated at well over £3 million.

Apple Corps agreed to pay the defendant's costs bill - put at around £2 million but still subject to detailed assessment.

The judge refused Apple Computer's application for an interim costs payment of £1.5 million pending the final assessment.

Mr Justice Mann said the 1991 trade mark agreement (TMA), under which Computer paid Corps 26 million dollars, shifted the boundaries between the exclusive fields of use so that Computer was entitled to a wider range.

But the judge said that Corps retained "musical content" as its exclusive preserve.

Computer introduced the iPod in October 2001 and in April 2003 announced it was going to launch the iTunes Music Store (ITMS).

This was introduced to provide a commercial source for downloaded software at a time when a large amount of pop music was available on the internet for illicit downloading.

The judge said ITMS was "a form of electronic shop" and proved to be "enormously successful".

The main objection by Corps was the use of the apple logo while the Store is on screen and being accessed.

Computer argued that although it did use the logo, the Store and downloaded track made clear that Computer did not own any of the rights to the music.

Mr Justice Mann said in his ruling: "I conclude that the use of the Apple logo in the notional LCD display (of ITMS) does not suggest a relevant connection with the creative work."

He also dismissed Corps' action over use of the logo on Computer advertisements connected with iTunes, the music store and the iPod.