Apple has again swooped on the makers of a figurine resembling its CEO, three months after stopping the sale of the Steve Jobs action figure by M.I.C Gadget.
This time the doll maker had shrouded the Steve Jobs figurine in a ninja mask.
To further distance the doll from Apple’s eagle-eyed lawyers the firm renamed the action figure as the Pineapple CEO. Apple’s lawmen described the changes as “a thin attempt to disguise” the Apple co-founder.
The company had replaced the iPhone the figure was holding with ninja stars – in a reference to a story, which Apple denies, that Jobs was stopped from carrying the weapon onto a flight from Japan.
There were other “minor changes” to the doll. He has a black belt, an enhanced version of glasses, and a wedding ring on his left hand.
M.I.C Gadget has now received another legal letter from Apple stating: “Mr Jobs has not consented to the use of his name and/or image in the Product. Unauthorized use of a person’s name and/or likeness constitutes a violation of California Civil Code Section 3344, which prohibits the use of any person’s name, photograph or likeness in a product without that person’s prior consent… The figure and its stand are replications of Mr Jobs image and Apple’s trademark. The thin attempt to “disguise” the figure in its current iteration does not impact the fact that you are plainly trading on Mr Jobs image…”
M.I.C gadget is surprised that Apple’s law firm took “so long to send us an email to request us to cease the marketing and sale of the figure. We reviewed it on January 18, and we received the email on February 8.”
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Comments received
whelk said on Thu, 17 Feb 2011
Well… Would you like to have an image made of you if you were ill? There are sick weird people out there and the Jobs doll is a bit too near an obeah image - don't make it easier for them to indulge a pet hate.
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