Pear Kickstarter project receives cease and desist over fruit-shaped logo, Apple not involved
Apparently, apples aren’t the only fruit you should be careful not to copy when you release a product. Pear is the name of a Bluetooth dock connector adapter that has been on Kickstarter in the past few weeks. Its name and logo is basically a play on the Apple name and logo, just using a pear instead of an apple as the base. Apparently though, that idea was already taken, and the project creators have been hit with a cease and desist and been forced to take down the project page. Completely. Unlike cancelled projects, there isn’t even a project page left, leaving many backers wondering what happened.
According to the project’s blog, someone who isn’t Apple claimed copyright infringement on the logo. What makes this an even more ridiculous copyright story than usual is that the Pear adapter wasn’t even being produced (hence why it was on Kickstarter), and as such there’s very little point in physically removing it to change a design that wasn’t even fully implemented. On top of that, claiming copyright on a silhouette of a fruit, at least one that isn’t “modified” like the bite in the Apple apple, is more than a little ridiculous. I have to ask what’s next, someone claiming copyright on a circle?
Either way, the Pear will be back, with the appropriate changes made so that it no longer violates the copyright. This story aside though, the Pear isn’t really worth much attention, simply due to the fact that such a product already exists.
[Engadget]
