There are many ways to slice--or draw--an apple, but the Cupertino, Calif., computer maker is once again claiming right to its own methodology.
Just as we were enjoying a reprieve from Apple trademark cases, a new one arose this week with the company challenging New York City's trademark application for a logo it's using in a new green living campaign.
The Big Apple's GreeNYC campaign features an emblem--an apple with a stalk and leaf--that has started to appear on city bus shelters, hybrid cabs, and even Whole Foods shopping bags, according to a story first reported by Wired.
Apple says the emblem resembles its own signature logo, and will thus confuse people and "seriously injure the reputation which (Apple) has established for its goods and services," according to the January filing with the federal Trademark Trial and Appeal Board obtained by Wired (PDF).
New York, in response, says the claim is without merit and that Apple is asking for overly broad protection, according to news reports. A spokeswoman for the city's marketing arm said the logo was "meant to invoke thoughts of upstate New York's bucolic rural areas, where apple orchards once delivered much of the nation's crop," according to the Associated Press. She added that the idea came from the city's Big Apple nickname.
The city, however, has never obtained trademarks related to "The Big Apple" phrase, according to the AP. But with Apple's three Manhattan retail stores and its trademark history, maybe the time is ripe for the city to do so.
Thinking about getting green? Really green? Well, today The New York Times profiles some folks who are removing themselves from the American market whenever they can. Dumpster diving. Using wasted food and free stuff thrown off by the rapid spin of our consumer culture. They call themselves "freegans."
"After years of trying to boycott products from egregious corporations responsible for human rights violations, environmental destruction and animal abuse, many of us found that no matter what we bought we ended up supporting something deplorable. We came to realize that the problem isn't just a few bad corporations, but the entire system itself." That's part of the front-page manifesto on the Web site that seems to exemplify freegan living. Another popular Web site for free stuff is Freecycle, which advises you to recycle to other people who live nearby.
How does a freegan get Web access? Could you be lucky enough to find a working laptop in a dumpster and then tap into Wi-Fi?
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