14 DAY TRIAL // Sure, Apple goes out of its way to protect the environment, but not so much to support education – or so we could infer from it suing the Victoria School of Business and Technology in Canada for using a logo shaped like an apple.
The Victoria School of Business and Technology started using a blue and green apple logo in 2005, CBC News is reporting. Two weeks ago, the school received a cease and desist letter from the Cupertino-based Mac maker, telling them to lose the logo, as it could easily be associated with the company.
“Your business logo… reproduces, without authority, our client's Apple design logo which it widely uses. By doing so, you are infringing Apple's rights, and further, falsely suggesting that Apple has authorized your activities," Apple's lawyer Stephanie Vaccari wrote to the school in a letter dated Aug. 26. The letter was posted on the school's website shortly after. In response, the school's vice-president claimed that their apple was a unique logo, but admitted that Apple was likely to triumph in court.
"Our logo is unique and distinguishable in numerous aspects from the Apple logo including the acronym 'VSBT' being part of our logo. Are you suggesting that anyone using any variation of an apple for technology education is infringing on Apple's trademark?" school president Dieter Gerhard responded in a letter also posted on the school's website. Gerhard emphasized the ironic nature of the situation the two parties found themselves in, given the school's large number of Mac acquisitions.
The school is now asking you what you think about the two logos. We too are dying to know what you make of the entire situation. As soon as you're done dropping us a line, head over on the school's site for the actual poll.
Apple has a history of being overprotective when it comes to its logo. In what was an even more ironical lawsuit, April this year saw Steve Jobs himself, chief exec at Apple, claiming copyright infringement upon the company's logo. NY City's environmental awareness campaign, GreeNYC, featured a logo similar to Apple Inc's. The leaf on top of the GreeNYC logo had been noticed by Apple mere weeks prior to filing the suit – and all that in a context in which Apple is known for making considerable efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. As a side note, GreenNYC's logo didn't even come close to Apple's, compared with VSBT's.