Canadian school in Apple logo row
p2pnet news view | Advertising:- Apple reckons the Victoria School of Business and Technology has, well, nicked its logo.
That’s Victoria on Vancouver Island, BC, a little more than an hour from p2pnet’s luxurious central HQ.
The company started using the blue / green not-Apple apple logo three years ago, but “Your business logo…reproduces, without authority, our client’s Apple design logo which it widely uses,” says a recent letter from Apple’s lawyer Stephanie Vaccari, reproduced on the company’s website.
“By doing so, you are infringing Apple’s rights, and further, falsely suggesting that Apple has authorized your activities.”
But the school has turned the complaint into promotional deal.
“Do you really with Apple that people would confuse the SVSBT logo with the Apple logo?” – asks the company on its ApplesandOranges page.
At 4:15 PM Pacific yesterday, some 898 people thought it did while 2,555 thought it didn’t. Today, at 3:30 AM Pacific, it was 3,037 for and 1,076 against.
“It may assist you to know that our logo was designed by is morphing the northStudio.com logo (sister company) logo [bottom right image],” says president and CEO Dieter Gerhard, who adds:
“In fact I must say we are feeling somewhat bullied by your letter and are not particularly impressed.”
Stay tuned.
Los Angeles Times – , October , 2008
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October 7th, 2008 at 9:02 am
It dose give the impression that apple has something to do with the organization. What has the technology and business school got to do with apples?
If about 1/3 of people see a link with apple then the logo is too similar and they should be”morphing the northStudio.com logo (sister company) logo” differently to create something unique apposed to something so easy confused by the uninformed.
October 7th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Apple should really, really stop this nonsense. They are as bad as intel.
Can’t be Apple geegaw vendor, this logo has no bite out of it. Any fool can see that. Apple should remove the bite and add mountains to their logo. They might have a case then. This is threaten them with a sack of weasel attorneys extortion.
Logos are protected under trademark law (in the US).
Trademarks only apply to a market segment (in the US).
Unless VSBT is a vendor of overpriced tech geegaws, I don’t see how there can be a trademark infringement (in the US).
I could see how someone might confuse a school of business and technology with a vendor of overpriced tech geegaws, if that someone were a lawyer. (Many of them appear to be not too bright. e.g. RIAA counsel)
Is trademark law in Canada that much different than US trademark law? I assume that Apple registered their trademarks in Canada.
If a student gives their teacher an apple, is that a trademark violation? I think we should be told.
NOTE: This is the kind of nonsense you get when very generic items, such as an apple or the word ‘windows’ are allowed to be registered as a trademark. Trademark law does not allow trademarking generic items. More evidence that US laws apply only to people, not to corporations.
October 7th, 2008 at 9:45 am
RW #1:
Many schools use an apple in the logo. It’s what you give your teacher as a bribe.
October 7th, 2008 at 10:11 am
The leaf faces the same way, the bumps (minus the added bump in the center) have the exact same circumference. The general shapeof the apple is the same (Bigger on top, smaller on the bottom).
Since this is a Tech School that uses allot of apple products for their students I can see how this could cause confusion and how people might think that its somehow an apple certified school.
Really, all they probably need to do to mark a big enough distinction is make the leaf face left instead of right and make the apple a little rounder (less shaped like Apple’s apple). Heck just moving the leaf may be enough.
October 7th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Nah they are different enough to be distinct (colour scheme, additional grafics, and the bite). There are also clauses for companies with similar (and the same names) to be allowed, as long as the business sector intrests don’t overlap. The same may apply for logos (?)
October 7th, 2008 at 10:49 am
This should be getting more press airtime.
I think the school used the apple as it represents the apple that fell on newtons head or the apples kids used to bring to their teachers.
Apple is making an ass of them selves this time. Who the hell sues a school over something like this.
October 7th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
The discussion page on the company’s website shows a variety of logos which they claim are connected to other schools, all of which show apples, some more similar to Apple Inc.’s logo than their own.
OTOH, the company director (Gerhard) has a propensity for shameless self-promotion and would probably cook something like this up just for the publicity. Using a domain name like “schoolvictoria.com” doesn’t help that impression.
OTOOH, Apple Inc. gives their lawyers far too free a rein and far too much of the money I paid them for some of it, when they could instead use it to make better hardware and software to sell me in future. They’ve always been exactly this litigious. When I can replace their stuff with open-source solutions that work as well, I won’t miss them.
October 9th, 2008 at 6:59 am
The first thing I think of when I see “Victoria School of Business and Techonology” is not cleverly designed products but rather, expensive wannabe post-secondary school. Sure, they use an Apple for their logo, but it’s such an ugly logo that only a moron would confuse it for anything remotely related to Apple.
October 9th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
No wonder Steve Jobs is having chest pains. The stress of going after every little player out there with your legal team must take its toll.