Both Apples have now stated their case in London's High Court regarding the use by Apple Computers of the Apple brand on their iTunes music store.
As previously reported, Apple Corp, the company owned by former Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the estates of John Lennon and George Harrison, claim that the computer company are in breach of a previous 1991 agreement in which Apple Computers promised to not use their Apple brand in the music space. The Beatles' company claims that the iTunes Music Store is a music company, and therefore the Apple brand should not be used alongside it.
But the IT firm disagree. Speaking for Apple Computers, attorney Anthony Grabiner told the court this week that the logo was promoting the iTunes store and its download service, not the music itself. He said: "Apple Computer has the exclusive right to use the apple mark [in iTunes advertisements] if used to indicate the source or origin of the hardware and downloading services mentioned in the advert", adding that the "distribution of digital entertainment content" under the Apple name was allowed by the 1991 agreement.
But in summing up his case, Apple Corps' lawyer Geoffrey Vos said that the iTunes business model "was flatly contradictory to the provisions of the agreement". He continued: "We say that Apple Computer has been using the Apple mark in connection with musical content. It uses those marks on its music store site at the point of sale of the music content. It signs artists on its site in just the way a record company would."
The case has now been adjourned, with the judge hearing the case expected to rule shortly after Easter.