Once upon a time in a law office somewhere a bunch of monkeys in 3 piece suits decided they needed more money.It all began in 1968 when the Beatles formed the "Apple Corporation" a holding company for all their business interests, the only one of which that ever made any money was the record label (big surprise).
In 1978 Apple Corps. filed a law suit against Macintosh for stealing there name when they introduced the Apple computer. The suit settled in 1981 with an undisclosed amount being paid to Apple Corps. This amount had been estimated to be $50–$200 million, but was later revealed to be $80,000. As a condition of the settlement, Apple Computer agreed not to enter the music business.
In 2002 Apple Computers introduced iTunes. So another law suit. It seems that the Apple Computer giant had now entered the "music business"
On May 8, 2006 the court ruled in favor of Apple Computer, with Justice Mann holding that "I find no breach of the trademark agreement has been demonstrated.
So I wonder who paid who a pile of money this time. Just this week I notice that Paul McCartney's music catalog is now on iTunes. But still the Beatles are no where to be found, as are none of the other of the original "fab four". Paul McCartney has also made a cheesy advertisement video for iTunes. I have posted a link
Where ever would this world be without law suits and lawyers.
And by the way. iTunes is now the third largest seller of music in this country right behind Sam Goody and Virgin Records
3 comments:
Cool story! I honestly believe that one day we will no longer see sales of physically recorded music. I thought it was strange at first, but since I have used my iPod, I do not miss the actual jewel cases and art work (which I thought I would). I think people are willing to give that up for the huge convenience that mp3 players are.
I agree. I still make an audio cd of most of the stuff that I have downloaded just so I have a back up, in case of a computer crash. But I love my iPod, I hardly ever go to the cd rack to pick up something. just dial it in on the ipod and away you go.
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