There are countless David and Goliath stories, where we rally behind the underdog who decides to defy the odds and take on the challenge of a lifetime. It happens all the time in the business world.
In Apple’s current fight against Prepear, a small meal planning app, it’s pretty clear who is in the David and Goliath roles. Apple thinks that Prepear’s logo is too similar to its own, and is going after its trademark for the pear logo.
The Apple logo is nothing short of iconic at this point. It’s one of the most instantly recognizable logos in the world, and it carries a certain brand affiliation of quality and aesthetics with it. The Prepear logo doesn’t have that same affiliation, but it does have the minimal fruit outline design, complete with a little leaf on the stem.
“Consumers encountering [Prepear’s] mark are likely to associate the mark with Apple,” the lawsuit says. “[Prepear’s] mark consists of a minimalistic fruit design with a right-angled leaf, which readily calls to mind Apple’s famous Apple Logo, and creates a similar commercial impression.”
Prepear’s parent company, Super Healthy Kids, took to Instagram to try to rally support from customers and onlookers, claiming they have a “moral obligation to take a stand against Apple’s aggressive legal action against small businesses and fight for the right to keep our logo.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDmcFEInZK7
The Change.org petition currently has more than 230,000 signatures.
“We are a very small business with only 5 team members, and legal costs from our fight for the right of all small business owners to be able to develop their own logo without fear of frivolous litigation has already cost us many thousands of dollars and the very saddening layoff of one of our team members,” the Change.org petition says. “It is a very terrifying experience to be legally attacked by one of the largest companies in the world, even when we have clearly done nothing wrong, and we understand why most companies just give in and change their logos.”
Apple’s claim also states that its brand would be damaged if people confused Prepear’s services for something under the Apple umbrella, also because “[Prepear’s] services are not limited to any particular channel of trade. It must therefore be presumed that [Prepear’s] services will be offered through the same channels of trade as the goods and services cover by Apple’s prior registrations.”
It’s going to be a tough battle for Prepear. Apple has the resources and the brand recognition to win this fight. The logos are similar, too, though they’re pretty clearly different fruits. And maybe, even subconsciously, the designers took the decades of internalized Apple brand visibility into account when designing the Prepear logo.
Obviously, more than 200,000 people feel differently, though. So who knows what will happen?
If Prepear had used a citrus fruit, maybe this wouldn’t be an issue. After all, you can’t compare apples and oranges.
