Apple opposed a trademark application by the creators of Prepear,
a recipe and meal-planning app, back in August. The company claimed that
Prepear’s logo was similar to Apple’s own logo.
According to Apple, Prepear's logo consisted of a “minimalistic
fruit design with a right-angled leaf, which readily calls to mind Apple's
famous Apple Logo and creates a similar commercial impression."
This was followed by Prepear’s parent company Super Healthy Kids launching a petition to convince Apple to drop its opposition. The petition has gained over 250,000 signatures by now.
Prepear believes that Apple is targeting a small business
and that the logo looks nothing like Apple’s own logo.
Apple, however, has not dropped the opposition. Nevertheless,
it does seem like both the companies are negotiating for settlement as filings
with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board have
requested that the trial proceedings be suspended for 30 days.
If no word is heard from either of the parties within 30 days,
the proceedings will automatically resume on January 23. In case no settlement is
reached, the initial pretrial disclosures will start from March, the main trial
briefs in October, followed by a potential request for an oral hearing in
December 2021.
