14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is about to get sued by a Cornell University graduate with a degree in fine arts. The company has been using his famous “powerful” tagline to promote its iPhone business, according to the guy’s lawyer, and now he wants to be compensated.
Best known for his street aphorisms and muralist art, James De La Vega says he’s been using the phrase “You are more powerful than you think” for almost a decade as part of his “Become Your Dream” series.
He tells the Daily News that he has many such quotes, “...all intended to inspire, uplift and empower human beings.” The 46-year-old added, “These guys were well aware of that when they decided to use it as a way to motivate their base to buy their phones.”
De La Vega therefore commissioned his lawyer, Richard Garbarini, to send Apple what is known as a “cease and desist” letter, which essentially tells the Cupertino giant to take down all forms of advertising that use the “powerful” quote.
The letter states that Apple has violated De La Vega’s rights as the “common law owner of the trademark,” adding that the company’s use of the slogan “clearly misleads customers into believing De La Vega somehow supports, approves and/or endorses its products [and it] contradicts and undermines [De La Vega’s message].”
“Words are weapons,” De La Vega said. “This is my way of building a movement. [Apple] should pay me because I created it and they’ve used it to creation national excitement about a product and huge profits for themselves.”
Editor’s note One has to wonder if Apple knew they were using De La Vega’s words when they debuted the new iPhone ad meant to inspire people to create art using the phone’s features. After all, the Cupertino company prides itself on being original, and it wouldn’t be caught dead stealing someone’s work, let alone someone else’s words. Plus, “You are more powerful than you think” comes easy.
Apple doesn’t lack marketing talent, so it shouldn’t be too hard for them to come up with a catchy tagline. Then again, being in De La Vega’s shoes and seeing your words used to sell gadgets, you’d have to pause a little and wonder if it was intentional or not. After all, we’re talking seven identical consecutive words here.