Apple To The Corp
Steve Jobs attended (officially and unofficially) Portland’s Reed College for two years, starting in 1972, and lived at a local commune that had an apple orchard. Soon after, he and Wozniak would found their company in a garage in California, and Steve Wozniak would claim that Jobs was inspired to name the company Apple because of his fond memories of that orchard.
At least that’s how the semiofficial mythology goes. Some people feel that the naming of the company had more to do with the Beatles than it did with a fruit orchard.
In 1968, the Beatles founded Beatles Ltd. and a plethora of failed endeavors, its only profitable division being Apple Records. In the world of music the Apple Corp brand (and its apple core photo) would become synonymous with their music. The Beatles broke up in 1970, but they kept Beatles Ltd. and its division, Apple Corp, going.
Seven years later (1975), Wozniak and Jobs were brainstorming names for their new computer company. Jobs said: Apple. Wozniak asked Jobs (as noted in iWoz) if Apple Computer’s name might infringe upon Apple Records’ trademark. To which Jobs retorted: “No, that’s music. This is computers. How could that possibly be a problem?”
Well in 1978 that became a problem. Apple Records filed suit against Apple Computer for trademark infringement. They settled in 1981 with $80,000 being paid to Apple Corps, and Apple Computer agreed to not get involved in the music business.
Then in 1989 Apple Corp sued over the Apple’s IIGS, which included an audio chip, claiming violation of the earlier agreement.
Then again in 1991 another settlement of close to $26.5 million was paid to Apple Corp.
Then again in 2003 Apple Corp sued Apple Computer for introducing the iTunes Music Store and the iPod. At this point, Jobs had had enough. With the future of Apple’s most successful product on the line he decided to go to court. The court found that iTunes and its online store did not infringe upon Apple Corps’ trademark.
But the story gets stranger. Both companies have now decided to put this litigious record behind them by giving control of the Apple mark to Apple Computer (now known as Apple, Inc.), in return Apple, Inc. will license the mark back to Apple Corp. But wait… it gets stranger. The Beatles have never allowed their music to be sold online, and yet when Jobs introduced the Apple iPhone, he used Beatles music to show off its iPod functionality. Was he hinting at an imminent announcement of the Beatles’ catalog on iTunes? Hopefully will know soon.
However, we may never know about the true origin of Apple Computers’ name. Was the Portland fruit orchard story a more legally acceptable explanation or did Wozniak and Jobs really name their company because of their favorite band? I think this might be a hint: “We love the Beatles, and it has been painful being at odds with them over these trademarks,” said Jobs in Apple’s settlement announcement . “It feels great to resolve this in a positive manner, and in a way that should remove the potential of further disagreements in the future.”
What a long and winding road.
Tags: Apple, Beatles, History, Mac, Oregon, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak
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