Apple Take on Independent Café Over Logo

Situated in the suburbs of Bonn, Germany is a small independent café called Apfelkind (Applechild). The café opened its doors in May this year and all was going well until a rather alarming letter from computer giant Apple arrived at the café last week. The letter stated that the logo of the café was too similar to Apple’s and could confuse customers of Apple.

The logo that Christin Romer chose was of a red apple with the silhouette of a child within in it. The reason that she chose this was to symbolise the café’s concept of wholesome fun and the child friendly atmosphere. This logo was then placed all around the café, on the café tables and the café chairs, the barstools and cushions as well as the cups and plates, which is what you would expect from a brand.

"When I first read the letter I didn't think it was true, but it was," said Mrs Romer, "When I created the logo I didn't think anything about Apple, and I think mine looks different to theirs. I love Apple products and use them a lot but you can see the logos are not the same."

She also went on to say that if she was to surrender to the demands of the giant corporation, it could seriously damage her business and plans to expand as rebranding her café would cost so much that it could cause her to go bankrupt. Not only this, but the café already sells products that show the Apfelkind logo and she had planned in the future to develop the brand to a franchise.

Going up against a multi-billion pound company is a risky decision, but never the less Mrs Romer intends to fight Apple’s decision, a bold move which she feels is justified.

This is not the first time that Apple have been seemingly over protected about its logo which they have made into a worldwide success. In 2010, Apple forced New York City into altering the “Big Apple” logo, as they deemed it too similar to their own.

In my opinion looking at the two logos, I can’t see that much similarity other than the logo containing the same fruit and feel that it is a bit of an insult to the customers of Apple to assume that they would get confused between a small café and Apple Inc. I also can’t help but wonder that if Steve Jobs was still in charge, would he really have the time, interest or even the heart to try and squash the dreams of a small independent café and its owner.

Below are the two logos. You can forge your own opinions on this subject: