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Beatles vs Apple

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the take-a-bite-out-of-the-oh-never-mind dept.

loid_void writes "Beatles fan Steve Jobs could lose a large bite of his Apple to his idols, says a report in Forbes. The Beatles' company, Apple Corps., is involved in a legal battle with Jobs' Apple Computer, claiming the hardware manufacturer is in breach of a 1991 agreement that that forbids it from using the trademark for any application "whose principle content is music." The two companies have been involved in a number of court battles over the years involving the use of the Apple trademark." Good summary of all the wacky misadventure the two mega corporations have had.

8 of 496 comments (clear)

  1. Buy Them Out by Oculus+Habent · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They've jot $4 billion in cash. If they were rumors about purchasing all of Vivendi Universal Music for the same amount, why don't they just freaking buy them. You don't even have to buy them out; just buy a significant interest in the company to shut them up. "Here's a $250 million investment. Let's forget this." It's better than a settlement; it's a resolution.

    --
    That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
    1. Re:Buy Them Out by shotfeel · · Score: 5, Insightful

      From the article:

      Despite splitting in 1970, the Beatles interests are still administered by Apple Corps., which is owned by McCartney, Ringo Starr and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison.

      Bdfore you can buy them, they have to be willing to sell. I don't know if that's the case here -I'm reasonably sure McCartney et al. want to keep control of their music. That's a problem for Apple Computer.

    2. Re:Buy Them Out by evslin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not knowing anyone who thinks the Beatles and Apple are related doesn't mean anything. A deal was struck between Apple Corp and Apple Computer, and Apple Computer broke it - no extortion involved.

  2. AppleCorp as a megacorp? by six11 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe I'm cynical, but, uh, AppleCorp as a megacorp? What's the threshold of calling a company a megacorp?

  3. Spinoff? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Couldn't Apple just spin off the music part into a separate operating company like "iTunes, Inc." and be done with it?

  4. Has Apple avoided this problem? by Dark+Paladin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The store in question is not the "Apple Music Store" - it's the "iTunes Music Store". It would appear that, under the terms of the agreement, Apple has done everything it could to avoid using the Apple logo - save for the part in the store where it says "Copyright Apple Computer, Inc" - which is more than enough to establish it being different from "Apple Records".

    As far as the previous posts about Apple Computer buying out Apple Record - why the hell not? It would ensure that the Beatles music would only be available via the iTMS - not that I am stating this is a "good" or "bad" thing (bad, if they stop selling CD's, good otherwise), and would truly cement Apple into the music business, while removing a pain in the ass.

    --
    52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
  5. It's not the music store, it's the contract by X_Caffeine · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All the posts regarding potential confusion between Apple Records and Apple Computer (and pointing out that it's called the iTunes Music Store, not Apple Music Store) are completely missing the point.

    A deal was hashed out years ago after Jobs'n'Woz called their upstart company Apple. It wouldn't be unlike you starting a music store called Dell -- Michael might have some issues with that.

    Apple and Apple made an agreement -- Jobs'n'Woz could keep their corporate name if they agreed not to get in the music business. And now they've broken that contract. QED

    I'm sympathetic to Apple Computer, but they don't have a leg to stand on here.

    --
    // I will show you fear in a handful of jellybeans.
  6. WIN::WIN::WIN Scenario.... by PortHaven · · Score: 5, Insightful

    WIN::WIN::WIN Scenario....

    Apple delves into their $4 billion cash reserves. They then buy the "Beatles" rights off of Michael Jackson (giving Jacko some much needed raw $$$).

    They then negotiate a deal with Paul McCartney to exchange ownership of the "Beatles" library for a merger with Apple Music and exclusive right to online digital distribution of the said Beatles library.

    Apple wins doubly (ends legal battle gains exclusive Beatle content rights). McCartney doubly wins (re-gains ownership of music and gains shares in Apple Corp. online venture!

    vwaaalaaa....

    Now was that so hard?