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Story URL: http://management.silicon.com/government/0,39024677,39158744,00.htm

Leader: Think big, not different
Don't let your trademarks limit your business

By silicon.com

Published: Monday 08 May 2006

Apple has won the latest round in its ongoing legal battle with Beatles record label Apple Corps over use of their shared logo.

Despite Steve Jobs' cheery response - "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" - with Apple Corps appealing the decision the dispute is far from over.

The industry too can expect to see more such trademark disputes, given the rapid convergence of the entertainment and traditional IT sectors.

When Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple in 1976, one would guess they never imagined their company - a computer hardware maker - would be so closely entwined with the music industry 30 years later.

What's the lesson to be learned for the rest of the industry here?

In March, when the Apple v Apple trial began, Olswang solicitor Sarah Wright told silicon.com: "It's always dangerous to give undertakings about future use, saying 'we won't use the brand for this' or 'we won't do that'. Who knows how your business will expand?"

Apple was fortunate this time around to receive a favourable ruling from the judge - one that happens to be tech savvy.

But any business which today is choosing trademarks or reviewing trademark contracts - and hoping to escape multimillion-pound legal fees and settlements - should attempt not just to 'think different' but to 'think big' and protect its interests far into the future.