What you need to know
- Prepear, a meal planning app, is being sued by Apple.
- Apple claims its logo infringes on its own design.
- Prepear says Apple has pressured other companies with "fruit related" logos.
Prepear, a meal planner and grocery list app, is being sued by Apple.
Reported by iPhone in Canada, the company is coming under fire from Apple for its pear-shaped logo, apparently because it too closely resembles its own.
According to the founders, Apple "has opposed the trademark application for our small business, Prepear, demanding that we change our obviously pear shaped logo, used to represent our brand in the recipe management and meal planning business."
According to Prepear, this is not the first time that Apple has sued other companies for trying to operate with "fruit related logos."
In a petition on Change.org, Prepear goes on to say, "before attacking us, Apple has opposed dozens of other trademark applications filed by small businesses with fruit related logos. Many of those logos were changed or abandoned. Most small businesses cannot afford the tens of thousands of dollars it would cost to fight Apple."
The company says that it has fought Apple to keep its logo so far, but that the battle has cost it thousands of dollars and resulted in one employee being laid off.
"It is a very terrifying experience to be legally attacked by one of the largest companies in the world, even when we have clearly done nothing wrong, and we understand why most companies just give in and change their logos," adds Prepear in its plea for support.
Prepear says that they will continue the fight, not only for themselves, but to try and set a precedent to protect other small businesses like their own.
Prepear says they "feel a moral obligation to take a stand against Apple's aggressive legal action against small businesses and fight for the right to keep our logo. We are defending ourselves against Apple not only to keep our logo, but to send a message to big tech companies that bullying small businesses has consequences."
The company has started a petition on Change.org that has already surpassed their original goal of 10,000 signatures and is now surging towards 25,000.
