For the past twenty years or so, Apple Corps and Apple Computer have been taking themselves off to court on a fairly regular basis. At issue is the usage of the two trademark apple logos. In the Beatles’ case, it’s a whole green Granny Smith. For Apple Computer, it’s an apple with a bite taken out of the side of it.

Having a registered trademark is a company’s exclusive face to the world. It’s how people remember your brand and hopefully associate good things with it.

In the seventies, computers and music were worlds apart. The internet was but a gleam in a developer’s eye and music was delivered on black plastic discs through retail stores. As long as Apple Corps and Apple Computer did different things, then neither side was too bothered about the the use of the “other” Apple logo being attached in people’s minds to different goods.

Today, computers and content go hand in hand. Since its launch in 2001, the iPod has remained the icon for stylish teenagers everywhere. Three million songs are downloaded from Apple’s iTunes service every day.  And the Beatles got increasingly irritated as what they saw as Apple Computer infringing the terms of a 1991 agreement not to use their logo in connection with music. Under this agreement, the parties agreed to divvy up the market place with Apple Computer having the exclusive right to use their apple logo for electronic goods, and the Beatles having the exclusive right to use their logo for music.

The Beatles went to court claiming that Apple Computer were breaking this agreement by using the apple in connection with its iTunes music store.

The court case has been long and detailed, punctuated by the lawyer for the Beatles downloading Chic’s “Le Freak” in the courtroom and drawing the court’s attention to how many times the Apple logo appeared during the process.

The judge Mr Justice Mann dismissed the Beatles' arguments, saying that the computer firm were using the logo in connection with its store  and not with music,  so there was no breach of the agreement. He said that iTunes was "a form of electronic shop" and had nothing to do with creating music.

Apple Corps will have to pay its rivals legal costs, currently estimated at £2 million. Neil Aspinall, for Apple Corps, said "With great respect to the trial judge, we consider he has reached the wrong conclusion". Apple Corps said they would appeal against the judgment.

In the end, this long-running saga makes good work for lawyers. In an earlier judgment,  the judge had lambasted the lawyers on both sides who had prepared the agreement saying that, “if their intention was to create obscurity and difficulty for lawyers to debate in future years, they have succeeded handsomely”.

None of the Beatles songs are currently available for download on iTunes although the internet has been awash with rumours that the original tapes are being re-mastered for pristine digital distribution. The Chief Executive of Apple Computer Steve Jobs said, "We have always loved the Beatles, and hopefully we can now work together to get them on the iTunes music store".

Music lovers under thirty may wonder whether any of this really matters. In the recent UK Music Week Top 40 poll of commercial radio listeners, the Beatles finished in 34th place – behind artists like Will Young and Robbie Williams. So will the Beatles finally decide to embrace the digital revolution after this court defeat? Or will they perhaps rather just “let it be”…

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