Apple Opposing Stylized ‘W’ Mark
08 November 2012
Apple is opposing Australian supermarket chain Woolworths’ trademark registration of its new stylized green W logo, claiming it is too similar to Apple’s own famous apple logo. According to Nick Weston, principal at Melbourne-based Nicholas Weston, Woolworths’ applications were submitted in August 2008, and seek to include a wide range of electrical goods and technology.
Writing on his Australian Trade Marks Law Blog, Weston says Woolworths is seeking a blanket trademark registration of the logo from IP Australia, seeking to cover goods ranging from ‘manure’ in class 1 to ‘cream’ in class 29, to ‘flexible pipes, not of metal’ in class 17 to ‘entertainment’ in class 41. Apple submits that if the logo were to be used on electrical goods, specifically computers or music devices, it would be deceptively similar to Apple products and cause confusion among consumers.
Woolworths, which already sells, inter alia, credit cards and mobile phones, reportedly said it could not rule out going into own brand electronic equipment.
In an interview with the BBC, Woolworths spokesperson Clare Buchanan said the logo was not designed specifically to look like an apple. “We absolutely say it is a stylized ‘W’ that can be any kind of fresh produce,” Buchanan said. “Some people say it looks like a lettuce, some people say it can be a pumpkin.”
Weston notes that Apple is known for its enthusiastic approach to protecting its trademarks: It was involved in a long-running legal dispute with The Beatles’ record company over the use of the Apple name, it had a crack at New York City’s GreeNYC campaign, and picked a fight with the Victoria School of Business and Technology in Canada.
Weston says Apple does not “stand much chance of successfully resisting Apple, right, is opposing the trademark registration of the new stylized W of Australian supermarket chain Woolworths, claiming it is too similar to the famous Apple logo.
Registration of the Woolworths stylised W device” and that it is likely “to fail to establish on the balance of probabilities that a prospective purchaser may still be ‘caused to wonder’ whether theirs and the marks they are opposing, though different, are the property of the same entity.” He says Apple’s best hopes for registration to be refused lay with Section 44 of the Trade Marks Act 1995 (deceptive similarity of the mark in respect of similar services or closely related goods) and Section 60 (trademark deceptively similar to a mark with a reputation in Australia in respect of both related and unrelated goods).
The Australian supermarket Woolworths has no business connection to the US Woolworths group or the failed UK retail chain of the same name.
