'Save Pear from Apple': Small app developer battles IT giant to keep its fruit logo

The developers of a meal planning app, which has a pear as its logo, say Apple has taken them to court over it, but the five-man team is reluctant to give in to the corporation.

The people behind Prepear software have launched a petition on Change.org, asking Apple to drop its lawsuit which calls on them to change their pear-shaped logo.

The Cupertino-based corporation claims that Prepear's emblem, which it described as “a minimalistic fruit style with a proper-angled leaf,” confuses buyers into thinking that the app is affiliated with Apple.The logo “quickly calls to thoughts Apple's popular Apple Symbol and produces a very similar commercial effect,” it stated.

However, the Prepear team said that they have “clearly done nothing wrong,” insisting that their logo is completely different from the famous 'bitten apple.'

The company has the backing of over 22,500 netizens who signed their petition in the first couple of days. Many of them argued that Apple couldn't own all the fruit shapes in the world and urged the corporation to stop being a bully.

The petition said that Apple has previously opposed dozens of trademark applications for fruit-related logos filed by small businesses. These logos were usually changed or abandoned as the modest firms behind them just couldn't afford the “tens of thousands of dollars” needed for a court battle against the tech giant.

"It is a very terrifying experience to be legally attacked by one of the largest companies in the world," the Prepear team said, adding that the costly process has already forced them to fire one of their staff members.

Despite this, the developers promised that they'll keep fighting for the right to keep their fruit-shaped logo, no matter what. “We feel a moral obligation to take a stand against Apple,” they said, in order to expose how big tech companies “abuse their position of power” to attack small businesses and to show that such actions will have consequences.

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