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Woolies' Apple logo dispute drags on

By Ben Grubb, ZDNet.com.au on February 9th, 2010

Topics

apple, woolworths, logo, trademark, dispute

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PaulHeck@PaulHeck March 24th, 2010

Supermarket chain Woolworths has asked for more time to respond to intellectual property administrator IP Australia over a trademark dispute lodged by Apple last year concerning its logo.

Apple Woolworths logo

The logos in question
(Credit: Woolworths and Apple)

Woolworths lodged the new trademark in August 2008: the letter W, formed in the shape of a peeled apple with a leaf on top. Although IP Australia made public in December that it had accepted Woolworths' application for the trademark (for the supermarket to be able to keep it), the application for the logo still needed to withstand any opposition it might encounter.

Unfortunately for Woolworths, Apple didn't like the similarity of the revamped brand to its own carefully guarded stamp and filed opposition to the registration, which also covered product categories such as computers, in March.

Since then, Apple has filed the evidence in support of its opposition to the trademark application. Woolworths now has to respond to that evidence. The supermarket had been due to file a response on 27 January, but on that date, the company's trademark attorney, Spurson and Ferguson Fang, lodged an extension which would give it an additional three months to do so.

Even though Woolworths had asked for an extension of time, it may, in a few months time, ask for a further extension, a spokesperson for IP Australia told ZDNet.com.au. Once evidence is submitted, Apple will then need to supply its evidence in reply.

"Evidence in reply [from Apple] was due approximately six months after Woolworths lodges their reply to Apple's claims. That time may also be extended by Apple," the spokesperson said.

Once all material had been received, IP Australia would ask the parties if they wanted a hearing to be held, or whether they were happy for the administrator to make a decision based on the information it had.

"We'll ask the parties if they want to be heard, and set a hearing date," the spokesperson said. "Each party may present some legal argument or otherwise go through the evidence they have submitted and clarify."

A decision would then be made by IP Australia's trademark office once these processes had been completed.

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Talkback

If you ask me...

... they look nothing alike. You'd have to be pretty dumb to mistake the Woolworths logo for the Apple one.

DeanDean February 9th, 2010
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Ridiculous

I'm going to make a company called Circle, and object to any logo which includes anything remotely looking like a circle. If I make rectangle and triangle too I've pretty much eliminated basic geometry from trademarks!

AnonymousAnonymous February 9th, 2010
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Worth of trademark

So the body who administers trademarks accept the submission (and guess the fee), publically declares the ownership ... yet it is never final as it is always subject to a challenge.

Does IP Aus also collect another fee to settle disputes?

Mr circle/triangle - I am sure IP Aus will welcome your trademark submission as long as the payment clears. Doesn't mean you will win though ;)

AnonymousAnonymous February 9th, 2010
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The Institute for Destitute Lawyers

The lawyers must love this stuff. Years in court, faxes at $10 a pop and the corporations fall for it. What happened to common-sense? Apple sells computers and Woolworths sells baked beans - no confusion in my mind!

Ross CorriganRoss Corrigan February 9th, 2010
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And if they follow the same business practices

- You'll only be able to buy Home Brand products
- You'll need a special woolworths can opener
- The woolworths two minute noodle meal will be an altogether cooler and more satisfying experience
- People will be queueing up for days each time a new store opens

AnonymousAnonymous February 9th, 2010
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How About a Merger

Maybe if Apple and Woolworth's merged they could share the same logo AND provide really cool Apple gear at half the price...

AnonymousAnonymous February 9th, 2010
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Cool(?) gear at twice the price

The merger would work the other way ... your produce would get a new 'cool' status (be the same product, but suddenly 'cool') ... and twice the price because of the packaging.

AnonymousAnonymous February 10th, 2010
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Woolworths = computer manufacturer?

The Woolworths logo being registered to cover computer products seems a bit weird. Surely if Woolworths was going to release computers/laptops they would use the slightly more respectable Dick Smiths brand over the Woolworths brand.

GregGreg February 10th, 2010
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Woolies Logo

Apple should start be getting the own country sorted out - The Apple Savings Bank - unless it is run by Apple Inc itself?

AnonymousAnonymous February 10th, 2010
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mmm apples

So the other day I like went to WoolWorths and did all my food shopping and shopping for house things. Little did I know I had made a huge mistake, I meant to go to an Apple Store to buy an iPad. The logos are just too similar I cant tell one from the other and I spent all this money on food when I could have gotten something I don’t need that doesn’t fit in my pocket.

Confused ShopperConfused Shopper February 10th, 2010
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Beatles Apple Corp

... and how does Apple argue away the similarities between the logo associated with The Beatles "Apple Corp" and its logo....?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps

StavrosStavros February 10th, 2010
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Apples

Perhaps they should both change their logos to a " peanut " .
In respect to the "peanut " that started this whole process...

We are paying way to much for their products if they have money to waste on this sort of rubbish.

MichaelMichael February 10th, 2010
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Apples and Woolies were around long before computers

Just like all the noise about Men at Work and the Kookaburra ..one would never associate the Woolies logo with Apple's logo. The whole business makes me want to shop at Woolies to support them and never buy from Apple....some people are so out of touch with how the public perceives them..clearly Apple is out of touch with the public altogether...

AnonymousAnonymous February 10th, 2010
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Woolies trademark logo dispute with apple

Interesting, maybe woolies can say it's Thai script
or put the green apple stalk on the left.

Adrian SteeleAdrian Steele February 15th, 2010
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Woolworths and Steve Jobs have in common of misleading you...

Woolworths would have you believe "fresh food" even though most of the veg and fruit are ready to be binned almost all the time. Steve Jobs would have you believe the iPad is advanced when it really is just a crippled "it can only do one-thing-at-a-time" device that is just a zoomed-in version of the iPod. Then fools come in to buy a half rotten apple with so much wax on the skin that it looked fresh but that's just it... it's only skin deep!

AnonymousAnonymous February 18th, 2010
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nor should this end here

Apple should start suing the apple industry worldwide.

AnonymousAnonymous March 11th, 2010
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I don't blame Apple at all for opposing this - as this article states, the trademark application made by Woolworths covers product categories including computers. As Woolies is already heavily invested in electronics retail (DSE) and mobile phone services (Woolworths Everyday Mobile), if they begin adding their own branding to hardware then their apple-ish logo could well cause confusion at the product level.

Had this just been a supermarket logo, chances are it would not have become an issue. But by Woolworths seeking the option to stick their brand on a wide range of items including consumer electronics, they would have known it would attract opposition from a multinational who have to protect their trademark. And they went ahead with it anyway.

Anyone who thinks Woolies is the victim here needs to look back at their reaction to Dick Smith using his own face on his Dick Smith Foods brand - Woolies challenged that on the basis they owned his likeness with the DSE brand.

philthyphilphilthyphil March 24th, 2010
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Apple continues to damage the very brand that it is so intent on safeguarding, with the heavy-handed approach to logo infringement.
Most comments in this stream reflect broader sentiment that this current action by Apple is un-necessary and quarrelsome in the extreme, leaving Apple looking like some corporate bully, not matching its design chic at all.
Their action confuses consumers, who would be asking, as many have here, what linkage there could be between the distinctly different logos of a grocery supermarket chain and a high-tech company based in silicon valley.
To sum up: Apple WTF?

PaulHeckPaulHeck March 24th, 2010
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