Melbourne company Pineapple in legal fight with Apple over name
A Melbourne start-up faces a David and Goliath legal fight against Apple, with the tech giant igniting a legal stoush with the tiny business. But the entrepreneurs who founded it are fighting back.
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A Melbourne business is facing the squeeze from tech giant Apple in a legal challenge over its fruit-based name.
Personal finance start-up Pineapple has found itself in a David and Goliath battle with one of the world’s biggest companies.
Lawyers acting for Apple have moved to oppose their trademark and issued a letter requesting they stop using the name Pineapple.
Co-founders Kari Marsden and Luke Campbell said it was a shock having a multinational company try to squash the use of their name.
“We think apples and pineapples are pretty different,” Ms Marsden said.
“Apple’s a trillion-dollar company picking on a small Australian start-up. Apple was young once, they were an innovative company who picked a pretty unconventional name, we would have thought they’d be supportive of a start-up like ours.”
Ms Marsden and Mr Campbell quit their jobs in the banking industry last year to work full-time on the Pineapple business.
Their app and website went live on Saturday with the legal cloud still hanging over them.
Ms Marsden said they were eager to keep the Pineapple name because they had spent a lot of time and effort researching it and coming up with the brand.
“Obviously it’s Aussie slang for the $50 note, but it also stands for fun, sun and holidays,” she said.
“We love the name and people have told us they love the name too.”
The business was targeted at young people and was described as a “financial wellbeing wallet” to help people manage their budgets.
The trademark name Pineapple was lodged with IP Australia in September 2019 and accepted in March.
On the final day of the advertised period, Apple told them they intended to oppose the trademark.
Mr Campbell said they were forced to engage a trademark lawyer to assist in what could be a long-running legal issue.
“The challenge through IP Australia itself is a process that can take anywhere between 12 and 18 months to resolve itself,” he said.
“It’s a nervous wait to find out whether we get to keep our name or not.”
Ms Marsden added: “As a start-up company we don’t need a long and lengthy legal process on our hands, we just hope it will be resolved and we can keep the name.”
The business has promoted the hashtag #saveapineapple to generate support in their legal stoush.
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