Apple Takes Bite at Pear Logo Trademark Application

(August 14, 2020) Apple Inc. thinks an image of a pear is ripe for a trademark opposition case.

Super Healthy Kids, Inc. filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for registration of a design mark in the outline of a pear with a leaf attached for an online app for organizing and planning meals and for evaluating the nutritional content of the meals.

After the design was published for opposition, Apple, Inc. filed a notice of opposition to the design mark.

In a 352-page filing with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”), Apple argues that its logo is famous and has been used in connection with health-related goods and services, so consumers “readily associate the Apple Marks with medicine, health, and general wellness.”

Apple describes the pear design as consisting “of a minimalistic fruit design with a right-angled leaf, which readily calls to mind Apple’s famous Apple Logo and creates a similar commercial impression” when the logos are compared side-by-side.

Apple contends that Super Healthy Kids’ logo “so closely resemble  the Apple Marks that it is likely to cause confusion, mistake, or deception in the minds of consumers as to the origin or source of Applicant’s Services, or the affiliation or connection between Applicant and Apple.”

Change.org called “Save the Pear from Apple! End Apple’s Aggressive Opposition of Businesses with Fruit Logos.” Russell Monson, one of the founders of the company, said the company has only five team members. “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.”

Monson wrote that the company feels “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 TTAB proceeding will not be resolved until at least late 2021.

Apple Inc. v Super Healthy Kids, Inc., TTAB Opposition No. 91254886.