So much has been written about the Beatles and their music and their lifestyles and their influence on music and culture – and their lawsuits. Apple Corps, the company they started back in what, 1968, has survived nearly 40 years of legal wranglings, and no doubt will face more as it continues to oversee the Beatles commercial interests.
The latest flap has Apple Corps 
claiming that Apple Computers and their apple logo on iTunes infringes on Apple Corps’ Granny Smith, in violation of an agreement the two companies reached back in 1991.
Visually, the two logos are not that similar, so some may think Apple Corps was out of line, but part of a company’s job is to protect its brand, its image. The contention wasn’t over the appearance of the logo, but that Apple Computers was using it to promote music, apparently – in the view of Apple Corps, but not the judge – in violation of the earlier agreement.
"We felt that during the course of the trial we clearly demonstrated just how extensively Apple Computer has broken the agreement," Neil Aspinall, manager of Apple Corps, said in a statement. The judge disagreed.
* The title of course comes from Maxwell's Silver Hammer. You knew that.
