File this under irony, because Apple has just lost a copyright battle against an Italian company named "Steve Jobs". The legal feud began back in 2012 when two brothers, Vincenzo and Giacomo Barbato, realized that Apple surprisingly hadn"t trademarked the name of its founder and decided that Steve Jobs would be the perfect name for their clothing brand.
Apple obviously took offense in this matter but since the Italian entrepreneurs had already legally registered the trademark "Steve Jobs" internationally, the Cupertino-based firm had no option but to file a dispute against the Steve Jobs" logo (pictured below) which also bears resemblance to an apple.
However, according to reports, Apple seems to have lost in court because the ruling claimed that since the letter "J" in the logo isn"t edible, it isn"t plagiarizing the tech firm"s logo.
According to the brothers, Apple did not seem interested in reaching an agreement with them, and as such, they have walked away as winners from the five-year-long court battle. The two entrepreneurs had the following to say regarding the matter (translated):
We did not call ourselves cunning in the negative sense of the term. We want to share this brand, we do not want to keep it just for us. It means that if there are companies or individuals with whom it is possible to carry out important projects we will support them with all the pleasure, to put our brand next to their project. We will give space to many minds throughout Italy, especially Naples, to give the possibility to realize a dream, because Steve Jobs has really left a mark in the universe.
What"s even more interesting is that the brand appears to show interest in releasing electronic products, which means that we could potentially see Apple"s iPhone and a phone by "Steve Jobs" competing side-by-side in the near future.
Source and image: la Repubblica Napoli, Business Insider Italia via The Verge