Apple beats the Beatles

In a verdict that surprised many industry observers, a judge in the UK High Court today announced that Apple Computer was not guilty of trademark infringement against Apple Corps, the record label owned by the Beatles.

The case centred around the use of the apple logo.

Both companies have pictures of apples as their corporate logos, and back in 1991 they reached an out-of-court settlement in which Apple Computer paid Apple Corps around £14m and agreed not to use the apple logo to enter the music business.

But the huge success of the iPod has given Apple Computer a very high profile in the music industry, and it has used its silhouetted Apple logo to promote both the iPod and its online iTunes Music Store.

To many observers, the iTunes Music Store seemed to represent an obvious infringement of that agreement, having sold more than one billion songs since its launch some five years ago.

However, Apple Computer’s legal team argued that the Music Store is simply a ‘mechanism for data transmission’, and that this mechanism can equally be used to transmit video data such as the films and television programmes that are also sold on the Music Store.

Losing this case would have been a major blow for Apple Computer, as the success of the iPod and the iTunes Music Store has had a knock-on effect that has also boosted sales of its Macintosh computers, such as the popular iMac home computer.

However, the judge - who admitted at the beginning of the hearing that he is an iPod owner – accepted Apple Computer’s argument and has effectively given Apple Computer the all-clear to continue its marketing efforts for the iPod and iTunes Music Store.

Steve Jobs, Apple Computer's chief executive, commented on the end of the case: '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.'

But lawyers for Apple Corps said they were considering an appeal.