Different standards apply to famous marks vs. regular trademarks. Imagine if a company which made heavy mining equipment had a logo of a swoosh with a hardhat inside. Would Nike be justified in claiming trademark dilution? Absolutely. Or if that same heavy mining equipment manufacturer had a logo of a big rounded arching M with a hardhat on it. McDonalds would legitimately claim dilution there as well, even though the restaurant has no plans to get into the mining industry. These situations would not be dissimilar to an apple logo with a child's head inside.
It's easy to say "poor woman" but the cafe owner must comply with trademark law, imperfect as it is. I hope she prevails actually. However, the process must be allowed to continue. She filed for a trademark application. Apple has apparently contested the trademark registration and sent the cafe owner a cease & desist letter on the side, hoping she'll voluntarily withdraw the application. She doesn't want to withdraw, so now it's in the hands of the German trademark office to sort out.
You really think the only thing different in those two logos is that there's a child's head inside right? How would you draw a real red apple fruit? If I was good in drawing, this is the closest I'd get to a real apple. It's definitely saying no one can use the fruit anymore, since a company chose to keep it's own name by that. She filed for a trademark application, but there must be someone insane sitting in Cupertino who thought they'd milk her on that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark_dilution
Different standards apply to famous marks vs. regular trademarks. Imagine if a company which made heavy mining equipment had a logo of a swoosh with a hardhat inside. Would Nike be justified in claiming trademark dilution? Absolutely. Or if that same heavy mining equipment manufacturer had a logo of a big rounded arching M with a hardhat on it. McDonalds would legitimately claim dilution there as well, even though the restaurant has no plans to get into the mining industry. These situations would not be dissimilar to an apple logo with a child's head inside.
It's easy to say "poor woman" but the cafe owner must comply with trademark law, imperfect as it is. I hope she prevails actually. However, the process must be allowed to continue. She filed for a trademark application. Apple has apparently contested the trademark registration and sent the cafe owner a cease & desist letter on the side, hoping she'll voluntarily withdraw the application. She doesn't want to withdraw, so now it's in the hands of the German trademark office to sort out.