Apple versus "Prepear"
A pear is not an apple – yet Apple went after the minimalist pear logo of a small recipe app. The case became a symbol of trademark conflicts between the big and the small.
What was it about?
Prepear, a recipe and meal-planning app from the company Super Healthy Kids, used a stylised pear with a leaf as its logo. In 2020 Apple filed an opposition against the trademark application, seeing it as too close to its own minimalist fruit logo.
As with "Apfelkind", the issue was the proximity of two visual concepts (fruit logo versus fruit logo), not a comparison of words.
The course of events
2020: opposition
Apple opposes Prepear's pear logo before the US trademark office (USPTO).
Public protest
A petition against the move gathers more than 250,000 signatures.
February 2021: settlement
The two reach an amicable agreement. Prepear changes the shape of the leaf and keeps the pear.
Settlement with a small adjustment
Prepear was able to keep its pear logo and changed only the leaf to stand out more clearly. The dispute was thereby settled.
What you take from it
Even related visual concepts – here "fruit" – can be a source of conflict when a very well-known trademark is involved. Often a targeted adjustment is enough to settle a conflict.
Whoever learns early that a similar sign is appearing can negotiate such adjustments in time – instead of conducting a costly dispute.
Sources
USPTO opposition proceedings Apple/Prepear; coverage notably by MacRumors and 9to5Mac (2020–2021).
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This article is for information and does not constitute legal advice.