Apple vs. Apple

There's only time for a short post today, but this story has caught my attention during the past few days. It goes like this: Apple (as in Apple Corps, the recording company of the Beatles in their later years) is involved in litigation with Apple (as in the coolest computer company in the world). At issue is the usage of the apple logo of each company and whether or not Apple Computer violated the "field of use" agreement that's been in place since 1991 when it started using the logo on its highly-successful iTunes Music Store.

Apple Corps Ltd., the Beatles' record company and guardian of the band's musical heritage and business interests, is suing Apple Computer Inc., claiming the company violated a 1991 agreement by entering the music business with its iTunes online store.

Geoffrey Vos, a lawyer representing Apple Corps, argued in Britain's High Court that characterizing the download system as an electronic device was a "perversion" of the constraints laid down in the agreement between the two companies.
[...] Apple Computer's argument that it uses the apple mark only in connection with a delivery system was "plainly wrong," Vos said.

"What Apple Computers are not doing (when) using the Apple mark is selling software, delivery systems, or anything of the like. They are selling music," Vos said. "and that is in violation of the agreement."

The computer company's logo is a cartoonish apple with a neat bite out of the side; the record company is represented by a perfect, shiny green Granny Smith apple.

I wonder if the fact that the London judge assigned to the case owns an iPod (as I read here) will have any bearing on the case...

Incidentally, another article I read today (for which I can't find the link) clarified that Apple Corps doesn't actually want Apple Computer to shut down the iTunes Music Store; they just want them to take their apple logo off all its products. I'll post updates to this story, but I'm sure something will get worked out here.

Pillow talk gone bad: You may have heard of the Islamic tradition of men being allowed to divorce their wives simply by saying "I divorce you" three times. Now a guy in New Delhi woke one morning to discover that he'd done this in his sleep.

Wrestling the reefer from Rover: A detective in Boston, while in the process of searching a drug suspect's apartment, had to wrestle a sack containing 108 bags of marijuana from the jaws of a pit bull.

Kids still say the darnedest things: An exchange between me and a sixth-grader in lessons today...
KID: I'm so tired. I woked up at 4 a.m. today.
ME: "Woked" up?
KID: Haha....I mean waked up.
ME: (laughs)
KID: No, woke up!
ME: So why did you wake up at four?
KID: I had a bad dream. I was killed by Chucky.
ME: Oh yeah? You had a bad dream about Chucky?
KID: Yeah, Chucky and Freddie Krueger....and Jason.
ME: Wow...
KID: ...and a duck.

It got weirder from there, as he told me a convoluted story about how Freddie killed Jason and Chucky killed Freddie and the duck ate Chucky...and somehow our protagonist got free by killing the duck while still inside of him. I tell you what--it's never a dull moment in my job.