If you believe Wired story “Apple Is Taking On Apples in a Truly Weird Trademark Battle“—and I do—the company is running about the globe seeking the “rights to the image of apples”.
One court case could cause big problems for 111-year-old the Fruit Union, according to reporter Gabriela Galindo, who writes: “The oldest and largest fruit farmer’s organization in Switzerland worries it might have to change its logo, because Apple, the tech giant, is trying to gain intellectual property rights over depictions of apples, the fruit”.
As PetaPixel founding editor Michael Zhang explains in story “Apple Wants to Own Rights to Images of Real Apples“: “Tech giant first filed an application to own the international trademark rights for a realistic, black-and-white image of a Granny Smith apple. Michael continues:
In its filing, Apple sought to obtain rights for a wide range of uses for the image, including electronic, digital, and audiovisual consumer goods and hardware. This trademark has been widely granted and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a UN agency that promotes and protects IP intentionally, shows that Apple now has protected use of it in a lengthy list of countries that includes Australia, Canada, Japan, the UK, and many more.
Yikes!
Surely God—Mother Nature, if you’re not a believer—has claims that supersede anything Apple wants to obtain. So, in support of the natural designer’s rights and in defiance of the fruit-logo company’s machinations, I share a black-and-white Granny Smith shot this evening using Leica Q2 Monochrom. Vitals for the Featured Image, aperture manually set: f/11, ISO 3200, 1/30 sec, 28mm; 8:12 p.m. PDT.
Come and get me, Apple.