In August, Apple filed an opposition to a trademark application by the creators of the recipe and meal-planning app Prepear. Apple claimed the Prepear logo was too similar to Apple’s own logo.
While the Prepear logo doesn’t appear too similar to the average observer’s eye, Apple claimed in its filing that Prepear’s logo “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.”
The objection led the company behind Prepear (Super Healthy Kids,) to launch a petition to persuade Apple to drop its opposition, saying Apple was targeting a mall business trying to protect a logo that appears quite dissimilar to Apple’s logo.
Apple has been opposing small businesses with fruit related logos by starting expensive legal action even when those logos don’t look anything like Apple’s logo, or aren’t in the same line of business as Apple at all.
Super Healthy Kids 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.”
While Apple has not dropped its opposition to the logo, filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board last week have requested that the trial proceedings be suspended for 30 days as the “parties are actively engaged in negotiations for the settlement of this matter.” This indicates a resolution to the dispute may be imminent.
During the 30-day pause, both sides are free to resume the proceedings and the proceedings will automatically resume on January 23 if there is no further word from the two parties.
A full PDF version of the Motion to Suspend Proceedings is available for perusing at the MacRumors website.