Apple Sues Over iGasm Ads

funkeymonkeyman writes "Apple is less than pleased with an interesting new peripheral for the iPod which promises to 'take your appreciation of music to a whole new level.' Legal action has been taken against Ann Summers, the manufacturers of the new device, specifically for the similarity of the iGasm advertisements to the iconic iPod silhouette ads. The CEO of the adult retail chain replied to the threat cheerily, 'Perhaps I can send them an iGasm to put a smile back on their faces.'"

I don't know about you

[by Anonymous Coward]

But iCame.

Re:I don't know about you

[Rude Turnip (49495)]

How about...i'llgetfiredprobablytomorrowforfollowingaN SFWlinkfarkyouneal

Re:I don't know about you

[PopeRatzo (965947)]

It's OK, you hate that job anyway.

Re:I don't know about you

[Hatta (162192)]

Which link is NSFW? There's no nudity or bad language on the iGasm page.

Re:I don't know about you

[Just Some Guy (3352)]

This isn't Fark. Either man up and tell your boss about something funny you saw so that he hears about it first from you, or take some responsibility for yourself and don't click links in a story about a sex toy.

Re:I don't know about you

[1u3hr (530656)]

Who cares, the ad is a parody and that's that.

The ad is a parody, but the iGasm is an actual product (unless it's a hoax?). Parody is a defence for copyright infringement. This would be about trademark and patents. Since they're actually selling goods which are obviously meant to suggest an iPod style, it probably does infringe.

Re:I don't know about you

[cenonce (597067)]

The ad is not a parody and to suggest that it is simply because it is posted on Slashdot (where everything is "fair use", "prior art" and "parody"!) is nonsense. For a parody defense to work, she needs to be making some kind of commentary about the original product. She is actually advertising her product for use with an iPod! Read a case like Acuff-Rose [cornell.edu] for parody in copyright. If she is taking Apple's "sillhouette ads" and copying them to advertise her "device", it is copyright infringement, pure and simple. Heck, she could be advertising tires and it would be copyright infringment.

Re:I don't know about you

[squiggleslash (241428)]

Would it be too much to ask for you guys to stop applying American law to a British legal case? Parody is not a defense for copyright infringement in the UK. Parody is "fair use" in the US due to the difficulty of reconciling copyright law and the first amendment, but there is no first amendment in the UK, so the only opt-outs in UK copyright law are specifically legislated concepts called "fair dealing", and pretty much 90% of what is considered fair use in the US is not legislated as "fair dealing" in the UK.

Re:I don't know about you

[MarsBar (6605)]

So you bunch of Apple fanboyz all agree that Apple's in the right?

Shock!

Re:I don't know about you

[Hognoxious (631665)]

We discussed this the other day at work (apple product retailer) [...] Everyone agreed however, that the silhouette ad all by itself was infringing

Everyone, as in a bunch of shop assistants? Pardon me if I'm not convinced.

The cocky response from the iGasm rep

Don't really need to comment.

Re:Parody ?

[bkr1_2k (237627)]

"iAnal"

You do? Maybe we should talk.

No bad publicity

[farker haiku (883529)]

And suddenly she's going to make a shitload of money because of the lawsuit.

Re:No bad publicity

[chuckymonkey (1059244)]

Exactly, I never heard of it before this. Now I'm going to buy one for my wife just to see it in action.

Re:No bad publicity

[rtyall (960518)]

See "Wife", Read "self".
See "just to see it in action", read "to replace the electric toothbrush".
Sorry, saw the joke and took it.

Re:No bad publicity

[AGMW (594303)]

I think they make enough money that whilst this publicity may improve sales of this product it won't make much difference to their bottom line.

He He. HeHe. Bottom. He He.

Let me correct that headline for you.

[Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289)]

Headline should read:

Apple's usual litigation-trigger-happy attitude has netted an incalculable amount of free publicity to Anne Summers.

I can't really see how Apple can claim some sort of copyright over silhouettes. I mean - the original iPod adds seemed very.... reminiscent of the James Bond opening credits sequences from the 70s.

Perhaps Apple is jealous that the Anne Summers' logo also contains an Apple [wikimedia.org].

Re:Let me correct that headline for you.

[Xiroth (917768)]

To be honest, I seriously doubt they actually care - popular peripherals can only increase the demand for their products. All they're doing is ensuring that there's a clear gap between them so that if some think-of-the-children types kick up a fuss then they can say 'We have nothing to do with them - look, we even tried to shut them down via lawsuit.'

This kind of publicity helps both parties, and I say more power to them if the media is running with it.

Re:Let me correct that headline for you.

[Boogaroo (604901)]

This wouldn't be a copyright issue. You can't copyright a style, but you can trademark it. There's still a catch there. You have actively defend your trademark or you lose it. You also have to apply for a trademark(unlike copyright where it's automatically a given). I think Apple's on the losing side of this issue. After all, you've pointed out one other example of the same idea. I'm sure it won't be hard for a decent lawyer to come up with a few more.

Honestly? I agree with your point: Apple has just given tons of free advertising to the iGasm product.
Regardless of any result of the lawsuit, they'll probably have quite a few sales they wouldn't have gotten. Question is, will it pay more than the lawyer's fees.

Re:Let me correct that headline for you.

[Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289)]

You can't copyright a style, but you can trademark it.

No. You can't trademark a style.

TM details FWIW

[chub_mackerel (911522)]

Some clarity on TM, at least in US...

No, you can't trademark a style.

You can trademark almost anything that creates a connection in a consumer's mind between a product/service and its origin. Historically this has included logos, words, sounds (Harley Davidson's engine noise), images, even colors (Corningware's "pink" insulation), shapes of products (Weber Grill), type of decoration in a restaurant, called "trade dress" (Taco Cabana).

If whenever you see commercials of a certain "style" and you think "Apple/iPod", then the style is likely trademark material. If another company's using the same style to sell a similar/related product (as opposed to engaging in satire or public comment which is more protected) then I'd put my money on the trademark holder.

...You also have to apply for a trademark(unlike copyright where it's automatically a given)...

Wrong again, at least in the US. Most trademark rights come from using the trademark, not from applying for it. The Trademark office register the mark for you, which gives you some considerable procedural advantages (hence there is a process sort of like patent application that you need to go through), but there's no requirement to register your mark in order to have a trademark. All of which is probably beside the point in this instance, since I bet Apple registered something related to whatever they're suing over.

Re:TM details FWIW

[jabuzz (182671)]

Perhaps, but Ann Summers is a U.K. firm so US law and practice will have no bearing whatsoever in a U.K. court of law.

Re:Let me correct that headline for you.

[fractoid (1076465)]

I can't really see how Apple can claim some sort of copyright over silhouettes. I mean - the original iPod adds seemed very.... reminiscent of the James Bond opening credits sequences from the 70s.

Isn't that Apple's approach to all of their 'revolutionary' stylistic stuff? "We stole it first. You can't have it!"

Revenge

[Tablizer (95088)]

Rather than sue, Apple can fight fire with fire by introducing the OrgPod.

Only suing vibrators?

[adona1 (1078711)]

Personally, I'm surprised they haven't started suing the iGoatse [extraneo.it]...which almost makes me wish I had an iPod ;)

Re:

[Tablizer (95088)]

Personally, I'm surprised they haven't started suing the iGoatse [link]...which almost makes me wish I had an iPod ;)

iNot gonna click that link. Volunteers?
     

Re:Come on, be a man!

[Tablizer (95088)]

What is the worst thing that can happen?

Um, a lifetime of reoccuring horrid flasbacks like one's own personal Clockwork Orange.
           

Re:Only suing vibrators?

[Lehk228 (705449)]

it works better on the black ipod with the red click wheel

Anybody here try it?

[Tablizer (95088)]

Have any of you slashgals tried it yet? Does it work, or is it just a gimmick?

Re:Anybody here try it?

[martinX (672498)]

I tried it. It hurt my bum.

Hang on, this is for chicks to use? Man, was I duped...

This has been done before

[by Anonymous Coward]

A few years back, RMS released GNU/Gasm, an open source package similar to this one. The only downside was that it only worked with his songs.

iGasm Haiku

[Chas (5144)]

Little pod I see
The screaming, it's so damn loud
Anger or pleasure?

Re:iGasm Haiku

[ozbird (127571)]

Brown Microsoft Zune, Oh, you have no friends to squirt; Cancel or Allow?

Don't forget the tv ad

[cbuskirk (99904)]

http://adsoftheworld.com/node/10351/play [adsoftheworld.com]

iGasm beat

[Vskye (9079)]

I'd have to say that the Metallica song whiplash would even make Hilary Clinton smile with this outfit. (turn it up Bill, turn it UP!!!) We might even get lucky, and she'll be so happy that it will keep her out of politics. (one can only wish)

Re:iGasm beat

[X0563511 (793323)]

Please, don't EVER make a comment combining Hillary Clinton and a sex toy. EVER. The mind is an eye one cannot gouge out.

The mind is an eye one cannot gouge out.

[patio11 (857072)]

Icepicks, man, icepicks. Now if you'll excuse me I have to track one down myself.

Now we know...

[figleaf (672550)]

...why the Apple silhouette shakes so much.

streisand effect again

[e**(i pi)-1 (462311)]

Again the Streisand effect [wikipedia.org] but with an other twist: while every lawyer by now knows about this phenomenon, they take it into account but still chose legal action is taken to prevent other people to repeat this. What they do not realize yet is that advertisers or product managers will in future even more try to use names and pictures close to successful other pictures in order to use the free publicity from a lawsuit.

Hello the future's Microsoft

[towsonu2003 (928663)]

I know that you won't get this and hence mod me down. That's fine.

But they are trying to form a cultural monopoly... Very much like what Microsoft is doing. But different from Microsoft, in this case at least, they are using the society's negative feelings towards women's sexuality when it is freed of men. It is also interesting to observe how women's sexuality is desirable for Apple (just like for any other corporation) when it is the object of the male gaze, and undesirable when it is depicted as self-governing, hence not needing the presence of a penis.

duh

[zobier (585066)]

This is about the third time something like this has come up and I can't believe I still haven't seen the alternate name iRod suggested.

iFuck

[Tablizer (95088)]

Gals, go natural and organic and let me introduce (in) to you my iFuck device. Its free and requires no batteries.

Ann Summers

[Animats (122034)]

If you haven't spent much time in the UK, you may not realize that Ann Summers is a major retail chain, with hundreds of sex shops. It's like Victoria's Secret in the US, but harder-core.

Re:Ann Summers

[muellerr1 (868578)]

Is this one of those funny translation things where we say 'fries' and you say 'chips' and we say 'chips' and you say 'crisps' and we say 'overpriced underwear store' and you say 'sex shop'? Because as far as I know, Victoria's Secret doesn't sell toys, whips, chains, or anything but expensive underwear. Though maybe that's what you meant by 'harder-core' and if so, yes, sex toys are harder-core than just plain old underwear.

AAaaaagggh!

[durin (72931)]

Damn porn filter at work.

Here's the image

[Ed Avis (5917)]

iGasm poster [product-reviews.net] that Apple complained about

Copyright, not trademark

[maroberts (15852)]

As far as I can tell, Apple is upset over the copying of the advert, not so much the device itself.

A recent UK Court of Appeal case has significantly narrowed the scope of Trademark protection, essentially stating that the public are savvy enough to recognise that the use of the same trademark in two different markets is not "passing off". However, this defense may be slightly scuppered by the ad, which does attempt a form of "passing off" and association.

The main complaint really seems to be blatant copying of the ad, and is therefore a Copyright issue. As others have stated, parody is not (officially) a defense in UK Copyright law, but taking the mickey has long been recognised unofficially. A classic example was the "Made In Wales" series of adverts which was parodied by the "Not the Nine O'Clock News" comedy show. The parody was so good , that it was alleged the Welsh Development Agency showed them to real potential clients alongside the original adverts. Also the term "Fair Use" does exist in UK law, and this may perhaps be construed to include parody.

Hey Steve

[sunderland56 (621843)]

Perhaps I can send them an iGasm to put a smile back on their faces.

Did she just (very politely) tell Steve Jobs to stick it up his ass?

Re:The iGasm is ok, but....

[by Anonymous Coward]

You're posting to slashdot. With account name "appleguru". And your link goes to a site about modding video game consoles. Of the millions of people reading slashdot, I can count on one hand the number of people that believe you.

Unless by "girlfriend" you meant "girl I barely know, who filed sexual harrassment charges after I creeped her out with an OhMiBod vibrator gift." That one I'd believe.

Re:Let me correct the headline for you...

[Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289)]

specifically designed to cause confusion in the markeplace

Confusion?

If you can't tell the difference between a sex toy & a portable music player, then.... well, let's just say I don't want to borrow your iPod.

Re:I for one ...

[weighn (578357)]

... welcome our new iGasm vibrated female colleague overload!

welcome our new iGasm vibrated female college undergrad!

There, fixed that for you