Beatles lose Apple battle

The Beatles record label today suffered a multi-million-pound defeat in the High Court over its distinctive apple logo.

Apple Corps had sued Apple Computer over the use of an apple logo to advertise its iPod music players.

Apple Corps - owned by Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the widows of George Harrison and John Lennon - claimed the computer giant had breached an agreement to keep out of the music business.

Today Mr Justice Mann - a self-confessed iPod owner - ruled in favour of Apple Computer. As a result Apple Corps faces a legal bill of more than £3million. It plans to appeal but hopes of compensation running into many millions of pounds have been dashed.

The two companies had agreed a strict "field of use" of the Apple logo in a dispute which has run since the early Eighties.

In 1991 a trademark agreement gave Corps exclusive use of the logo for the record business.

Then in 2001 the clash exploded into legal action with the launch of Apple Computer's on line iTunes Music Store.

In court Apple Corps demanded that Apple Computer stop using the trademark and pay it a percentage of profits. Today the judge said that while Corps retained the right to use the apple logo for "creative works", Apple Computer still had the right to apply its mark for service which sells content.