The legal hammer
strikes unpredictably: that's the lesson to be learnt from the case of "iPod Monday," a weekly event at The Lift in Des Moines, Iowa where patrons
bring brought along their iPods to play 15 minute playlists based around different themes. Unfortunately, the event's host and creator, Clint Curtis, is bringing the event to a close on its second anniversary (tomorrow) after receiving a cease and desist email from
Apple. As the dispute is limited to Clint's use of the trademarked word "
iPod," Clint could presumably have kept the event running under a different name. However, a quick read of his email correspondance with Apple reveals the reasoning for closing the event. As Clint points out, he sent several emails to Apple before starting the website and specifically asked for permission to use the term "iPod Monday," he's had visits by Apple employees, a mention on Apple.com, and has praise heaped upon him everytime he visits the local Apple Store, and he is also a loyal Apple customer and claims to have generated a lot of publicity for the company despite receiving no compensation. Unfortunately, that means nothing to Apple, who are still requesting that he cease using the name despite his pleadings. This all begs the question: why now? Why, after two years, many emails, and much publicity, is Apple cranking it up a gear? As is often the case with these kind of
David and Goliath legal scenarios, Clint has only two possible choices: resign to his fate and accept the demands, or start a lengthly legal battle against a company he likes, for an event that probably isn't worth the financial cost to defend.
[Via
Boing Boing]
posted February 10th 2007 6:38PM
iPodmonday wake up in the earlymoringn
head off to work
with yo white buds
blastin music in yerear
its the apple lawsuit
of ipodness
yes the apple lawsuit of ipod ness
clickclickclick
load upitunes
fast
yo better plug the cable in fast
you get on the subweay
cuz the streets all packed
got your ipods inyour ear
ZONINOUT REAL FAST
its the apple lawsuites
of ipod names
yes the applelawsuitsof ipodnames
you get to work cuz u need the dough
just to buy some more
drm loaded songs
you get back home
andplug in your password
load up itunes
and smackthatsnumber one
you buy it now
cuz thats howu do it
the internets down
OH NOES
NO MUSIC'
sry
i was bored
had todo it
What happened to Apple?
Where is the punk rock, in your face, fuck the man attitude they used to have?
Where is the bowtie, the codenames, the fucking SOUL? Man back in the day using a mac was a fucking effort, you had to eat sleep and breathe conflict. You had to fight for your fucking right to use the mac os... now theres no point, nothing worth fighting for. The iPod is apple's legacy, dumbed down consumer electronics. Elegant, sure, but not genuis.
Apple sold out and I don't believe in nothing no more. I'm installing Ubuntu.
Why don't you just acll it "!POD - Monday"? You can have a smoke and laugh about the apple thing...
Cheers, Lutz
Looks like Apple's legal department is too far removed from marketing. I think Zune Mondays would be a great retaliation if anyone owned a Zune. How about DRM free Wednesdays?