Things Apple Thinks it Owns: The Word App, the Color Black, and Now… Steve Jobs’ Face?

By: Hillel Fuld

“Oh, Apple, what would we do without you?”

If you have been reading this blog from way back when, you might recall a post we wrote about the ongoing Getjar Apple battle over the word “App”. You can read that here. I am no lawyer, but something about a company forcing someone to stop using a word as generic as “App” rubs me the wrong way. But it gets better, a whole lot better.

As you might have heard, Samsung and Apple are at each other’s throats on the technology, legal, and advertising fronts. You can read more about that here. Well, Apple, being the peace lover that it is, sent Samsung detailed instructions of how to solve all this tension. All they need to do is stop making devices that are black, rectangular, and…  You know what? Just take look at Apple’s guidelines below and I dare you not to laugh.

Samsung smartphones should follow these guidelines according to Apple:

• Front surface that isn’t black.
• Overall shape that isn’t rectangular, or doesn’t have rounded corners.
• Display screens that aren’t centered on the front face and have substantial lateral borders.
• Non-horizontal speaker slots.
• Front surfaces with substantial adornment.
• No front bezel at all.

As for tablets, Apple gave these rules:

• Overall shape that isn’t rectangular, or doesn’t have rounded corners.
• Thick frames rather than a thin rim around the front surface.
• Front surface that isn’t entirely flat.
• Profiles that aren’t thin.
• Cluttered appearance.

People, I can’t make this stuff up! Read more about these guidelines here.

Forget the word “App”, the color black and the rectangular shape, Apple can have those. Today brings a whole new low for Apple. If you have been following tech sites, you might have heard of a new action figure that was released by a Chinese toy maker. You can see the freakishly realistic action figure in the photo below.

Well, the CEO of In Icon, the company behind the new action figure, already addressed what his reaction would be if Apple opposes to the distribution of the 12″ replica of its beloved founder, Steve Jobs. According to TheNextWeb, Tandy Cheung said Apple could “do anything they like”, adding that the company “will not stop, we already started production”.

Cheung also spoke with lawyers in Hong Kong who told him that he was not violating Apple’s intellectual property as long as he didn’t include any Apple products.

He argued: “Steve Jobs is not an actor, he’s just a celebrity… There is no copyright protection for a normal person. Steve Jobs is not a product… so I don’t think Apple has the copyright of him.”

Well to no one’s surprise, Apple has moved to block sales of the action figure, threatening to take legal action. According to The Telegraph “Apple reportedly stipulates in a letter to the Chinese manufacturer that any toy that resembles the technology company’s logo, person’s name, appearance or likeness of its products is a criminal offense.”

Again, not a lawyer, but this can’t be right. Is it just me?

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