Apple has gone insane with power

Apple is suing a Polish grocery retailer over their name and the logo of one of its subsidiaries. I think winning the lawsuit against Samsung just made them mad with power and think they can sue anybody in the world.

Reuters is reporting that on Tuesday Apple, the U.S. maker of the iPad, iPhone and iPod, had filed a complaint, demanding the Polish Patent Office cancels the trademark belonging to A.PL Internet SA, accusing the website of copying one of Apple’s icons to its logo and riding its coattails to win customers.

Apparently, a website called fresh24 is a subsidiary of A.pl, and the use of an apple logo, no matter how different it may be from Apple’s logo, is a violation of trademark property. You see, the use of anything that resembles an apple is no longer acceptable, as Apple thinks they are the only ones allowed to use it, no matter how different it may be from their logo.

“Apple brand is widely recognized and the company says that A.pl, by using the name that sounds similar, is using Apple’s reputation,” patent office spokesman Adam Taukert said.

A.pl chief executive Radoslaw Celinski said: “The accusation is ludicrous”. The firm is looking at Apple’s complaint.

I think Apple is using the logo as an excuse to get the Polish grocer to give up the domain name. Poland’s top-level domain is .pl, so the Polish company did an excellent play of letters. My guess is that Apple executives noticed how good it could have played out for them with such a short domain name while still being read “apple,” so they want it no matter what.

The thought of a US electronics manufacturer suing a Polish online grocery sounds ridiculous, haven’t they learned anything from Apple Corps vs. Apple Computer? I think Apple should be more careful with what they do, if I’m not mistaken they’re presenting the new iPhone today, so this kind of rep is not what any company would want. But then again, what do I know, maybe they love to be in the news, even if it is for all the wrong reasons.