Apple Can’t Trademark Its Music Icon Because Of… MySpace

Apple Can’t Trademark Its Music Icon Because Of… MySpace


In a hilarious court ruling, Apple got denied a trademark on its orange music icon (the one that’s on iOS devices) because trademark judges said consumers might confuse the logo with one owned by MySpace. Hah!

Yes, ____space or whatever it’s going to be these days, is screwing with Apple’s plans. Take a look at the two logos to see if there are similarities beyond being orange:


Backstory on the MySpace logo: It was issued to a music service called iLike in 2008 and was acquired by MySpace in 2009 before being shuttered earlier this year. Apple tried to argue that no one has ever confused the two logos (which is probably true) but the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board disagreed saying:

In view of the facts that the marks are similar, the goods and services are related and are encountered by the same classes of consumers, we find that applicant’s double musical note and design for “computer software [..]” is likely to cause confusion with the registered mark comprising a double musical note and design [..] for listening to MP3’s and for sharing MP3’s and music playlists with others.

Read the whole report