Apple Vs. Beatles: Peace At Last

The Beatles and Apple End Bitter Dispute

A deal announced Monday between Apple and the Beatles brings peace at last. The legal battling over whose Apple Corp. rights should prevail spanning two decades has come to an acceptable agreement that both sides can live with. This sees off the otherwise inevitable courtroom showdown scheduled for later this month in London.

A judge was to hear Apple Corps' appeal of a May decision in its latest trademark-infringement suit, in which London's High Court ruled that the computer and gadget maker did not violate the terms of a 1991 agreement by using its fruity logo on iPods and iTunes.

With the end of more than two decades of legal wrangling, which could have seen iTunes part of the music catalog and the iPod-hawking Apple Inc., the two sides settle the matter of who's who in Apple Corp. Before the deal things could have seen the Beatles' similarly monikered company, Apple Corps, terms. Fortunately, both have resolved their differences.

"We love the Beatles, and it has been painful being at odds with them over these trademarks," Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. "It feels good to resolve this in a positive manner, and in a way that should remove the potential of further disagreements in the future."

Both formerly opposing sides defended the company's names and logos they believed sole entitlement to fiercely. While Apple Corps was launched in 1968 by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr to oversee the Fab Four's business interests with a photo realistic green apple as its logo; Apple CEO Steve Jobs cofounded what was then known as Apple Computers in 1977.

He has previously acknowledged choosing the company name and graphical logo (which, unlike Apple Corps, has a bite missing) in tribute to the Beatles, his favorite band. In 1978, a trademark-infringement lawsuit brought against him by the Beatles. Apple Computers settled that suit in 1981 for $80,000 and a promise to never enter the music business. However, Jobs found himself being sued again by Apple Corps a decade later over music capabilities in Apple's computers.