So, Steve Jobs won't have to find another fruit with which to label his download platform, which is a shame because I thought Nectarine iTunes had a real ring to it. But a UK judge yesterday ruled that it is OK for Apple Computers to refer to their music service as Apple iTunes, despite a previous agreement with the Beatles owned company Apple Corps in which they said they wouldn't trade in the music space using the Apple name and logo.
As previously reported, the whole thing went to court when Apple Corps, which is owned by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the estates of George Harrison and John Lennon, said that with iTunes Apple Computers were very much trading in the music business, and had therefore broken that 1992 agreement in which the computer firm promised to stay out of the music space in which the Beatles had been using the Apple name since the late sixties.
However, the computer company argued iTunes is not, in fact, a music business - rather, it is a content distribution software and e-tail operation that happens to distribute and sell music. According to that interpretation Apple Computers are still within their past agreements with Apple Corps.
And yesterday in the London courts Mr Justice Anthony Mann agreed with that interpretation of what iTunes actually is in real terms. The judge described iTunes as "a form of electronic shop" that, crucially, was not in the business of "creating music". He added: "I conclude that the use of the apple logo ... does not suggest a relevant connection with the creative work. I think that the use of the apple logo is a fair and reasonable use of the mark in connection with the service, which does not go further and unfairly or unreasonably suggest an additional association with the creative works themselves."
Apple Corps must now pay its rival's legal bill, estimated to be in excess of £2 million, though the music company will appeal the decision. The company's Neil Aspinall told reporters yesterday: "With great respect to the trial judge, we consider he has reached the wrong conclusion. We felt that during the course of the trial we clearly demonstrated just how extensively Apple Computer had broken the agreement. We will accordingly be filing an appeal and putting the case again to the Court of Appeal."
Needless to say, Apple Computers boss Steve Jobs welcomed the ruling: "We are glad to put this disagreement behind us. We have always loved The Beatles, and hopefully we can now work together to get them on the iTunes Music Store."