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Apple Sues Over iGasm Ads

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the too-hot-to-rock dept.

funkeymonkeyman writes "Apple is less than pleased with an interesting new peripheral for the iPod which promises to 'take your appreciation of music to a whole new level.' Legal action has been taken against Ann Summers, the manufacturers of the new device, specifically for the similarity of the iGasm advertisements to the iconic iPod silhouette ads. The CEO of the adult retail chain replied to the threat cheerily, 'Perhaps I can send them an iGasm to put a smile back on their faces.'"

4 of 342 comments (clear)

  1. No bad publicity by farker+haiku · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And suddenly she's going to make a shitload of money because of the lawsuit.

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  2. Anybody here try it? by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Have any of you slashgals tried it yet? Does it work, or is it just a gimmick?

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  3. Re:I don't know about you by pla · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The ad is not a parody

    She called the thing an "iGasm"! If you don't see the parody there, consider yourself officially humor-impaired.


    If she is taking Apple's "sillhouette ads" and copying them to advertise her "device", it is copyright infringement, pure and simple.

    True. But she didn't just take Apple's ads and copy them - She took the style of Apple's ads (remember Apple losing that suit 15 years ago to Microsoft?) and parodied it, albeit for the purpose of promoting her own product.

  4. Re:I don't know about you by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Would it be too much to ask for you guys to stop applying American law to a British legal case? Parody is not a defense for copyright infringement in the UK. Parody is "fair use" in the US due to the difficulty of reconciling copyright law and the first amendment, but there is no first amendment in the UK, so the only opt-outs in UK copyright law are specifically legislated concepts called "fair dealing", and pretty much 90% of what is considered fair use in the US is not legislated as "fair dealing" in the UK.

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