Beatles defeat over Apple logo seen as boosting online music (Roundup)

By Anna Tomforde May 8, 2006, 16:01 GMT

Apple Computer\'s CEO Steve Jobs holds up an ipod during his keynote speech at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, California 06 January 2004. Apple Computer has won the right to use the Apple logo and brand in conjunction with Apple iTunes. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO

London - The Beatles Monday lost their court challenge against US computer giant Apple over the use of its trademark Apple logo in a ruling that is likely to have wide-ranging repercussions on the growth of online music.

In the long-running feud between the Beatles' Apple Corps Ltd and Apple Computer Inc, the High Court in London ruled that the US giant had not breached a 1991 trademark agreement with Apple Corps Ltd by using the logo and name to sell music.

Analysts said Monday that the High Court decision gave the 'green light for non-stop online music.'

Apple Corps, the company owned by Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the families of George Harrison and John Lennon, wanted multimillion-pound damages from Apple Computer over the use of the apple logo in connection with its revolutionary online iTunes Music Store.

But the court ruled that the iTunes Music Stores launched by Apple Computers were 'a form of electronic shop' and that the use of the apple logo did not have a 'relevant connection with the creative work.'

'With great respect to the trial judge, we consider he has reached the wrong conclusion', Apple Corps manager Neil Aspinall said Monday.

Apple Corps would be filing an appeal and putting the case again to the Court of Appeal.

Meanwhile, Apple Computer chief executive Steve Jobs said the company was '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.'

Apple Computer opened its first iTunes Music Store in 2003 and is currently the market leader for music downloads, with about three million songs downloaded every day.

The ruling meant that there would now be an almost unlimited expansion of iTunes and online music, analysts said.

The High Court judge, however, ruled that iTunes was 'a form of electronic shop' and therefore not involved in creating music.

'I conclude that the use of the apple logo...does not suggest a relevant connection with the creative work', he ruled.

'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 suggests an additional association with the creative works themselves.'

It was the third legal battle over the logo between the two companies, which started back in the early 1980s.

The 1991 agreement gave Apple Corps exclusive rights to use Apple logo for the record business.

But the truce between the two companies was broken with the arrival of the iPod, which can be used to download and save thousands of pre-recorded tracks via the internet.

Apple Corps had wanted court orders to stop Apple Computer using the logo in connection with the iTunes Music Store, and sued for damages after an investigation into Apple Computer's profits.

Apple Corps must pay it's rivals' legal bill, estimated at more than 2 million pounds plus its own costs of a similar amount.