If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em

By Laurie A. Duncan

Various sites are reporting that Apple Computer may have more than a settlement offer up its sleeve in response to Apple Corps, the company behind the Beatles, taking Apple to court over trademark violations... again.

It looks like these two Apples might not fall far from the tree after all. The Beatles company has been floating the idea of finally granting rights for digital distribution of the Liverpool lads' music – although it may be only for a limited time. Given that Jobs is such a huge Beatles fan, he might just be willing to offer a settlement that includes the reported $25million the Beatles are asking for, in exchange for the privilege of creating an exclusive Beatles mini-store within the the iTunes Music Store. At $.99 a tune, we're talking well over 200 million download before the ITMS breaks even. This is no Penny Lane.

Lawsuits like these – and deals like these – don't happen overnight, so it may be a while before we know more. Until then, I'll continue to sing...

We can work it out

We can work it out

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