It’s back to court for latest round of Apple dispute

AS THE unmistakable opening notes of the disco hit Le Freak thumped through the High Court in London yesterday, it was clear that Apple Corps Ltd vs Apple Computer Inc was not going to be a typical trademark lawsuit.

Apple Corps Ltd - owned by Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono and the estate of George Harrison - accused Apple Computer of violating a 1991 agreement by using the Apple name and logo to sell music downloads through its market-leading iTunes Music Store.

“Apple Computer can go into the recorded music business in any way they want. What they cannot do is use the Apple trademark to do it,” Apple Corps counsel Geoffrey Vos said in his opening statement.

In a hi-tech courtroom strewn with computers, monitors, and at least one iPod, Mr Vos demonstrated the iTunes software by downloading the song Le Freak and playing it for Justice Edward Mann, a self-professed iPod owner.

Mr Vos said the Apple Computer logo is “intimately associated with the process” of buying a song from the iTunes Music Store.

Apple Computer has become a major force in the music industry, selling some 14 million iPod portable music players and more than 1 billion songs from the iTunes Music Store.

Apple Corps has filed trademark lawsuits against Apple Computer twice before. The most recent settlement in 1991 resulted in a $26m payment by Apple Computer and an agreement to limit the use of its Apple trademark in the music business.

The implications of that deal are now in dispute.

* The computer firm yesterday launched software to allow iPod owners to limit the volume on their machines.

The free download applies to the iPod Nano and the iPod models. Parents also can use the feature to set a limit on their child’s iPod and lock it with a code, the company added.