Filed under: Accessories, Hardware, Odds and ends
iPod sex toy maker threatened by Apple over use of silhouettes
Remember the iBuzz we found over a year ago? The supposed iPod sexy toy accessory that can *ahem* buzz along to your favorite tunes? Turns out they started employing some silhouette marketing to the product, which earned them a threat of legal action from Apple over the use of their darling faceless characters.The iBuzz creators posted details of the threat on their site (warning: NSFW. No nudity, but close enough), noting how strange it is that Apple took over a year to go after them. They also point out the creator of another iPod-related sexy toy, called the gPod, whose inventor is obviously having a problem registering a trademark (for obvious pod-related reasons).
Not to worry though - towards the end of their page about the legal action, iBuzz states they are about to launch a new site for the upcoming iBuzz 2.0 (no, really), complete with a shiny new silhouette-less animation anyway. Sounds like people are doing a lot more than rocking out with their iPod these days.
[via iLounge]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Scott F said 8:25PM on 12-13-2006
Damned shame. I guess Apple pioneered the art of backlighting actors.
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Extensor said 3:26AM on 12-14-2006
Silhouette dancers were being done on Amiga demos back in 89-90 so Apple can't claim they invented it. iBuzzzzzzz should tell them to shove it. :D
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thebjwilliams said 4:10AM on 12-14-2006
This brings forth how iconic the silhoutte dancers have become. I don't know if it's worth suing over, but Kill Bill one had that hole fight scene with the blue background. The intro to Casino Royale did it's take with silhouette fight.
Shadows in Caesars has been around for years, but that's a different story, involving delicious manhattans.
Anyone else seen the new silhoutte archetype in pop culture that isn't a direct reference to the iPod ads?
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P said 5:02AM on 12-14-2006
In Belgium supermarket Delhaize (Foodlion in US) has a folder out, advertising their Christmas gifts.
It has the silhoutte archetype clearly on the cover (including color backgrounds and white objects).
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/1542/img1557delhaizeqj6.jpg
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Grover said 11:56AM on 12-14-2006
No Apple didn't invent silhouettes, but that's completely irrelevant. What matters is if this company's ad could possibly create the impression that this is an Apple product. Once you create a brand, you are legally obligated to proactively protect it or risk loosing it. It doesn't matter if Apple stole the item lock stock and barrel from someone else (they didn't but that's what you guys are implying). It matters that from a public conciseness perspective right now that dancing silhouettes on brightly colored backgrounds = Apple stuff.
Also, are you guys really trying to say that the silhouettes shown on this site where not based on Apple's established brand? And that they weren't trying to draw a correlation between their product and Apple's by co-opting that brand identity? That they aren't, in other words, doing exactly what Apple is claiming they are doing and asking them not to do? No reasonable person could assert that. It's ridiculous to say otherwise.
Apple isn't asking them not to create the product, and they aren't asking them not to use silhouettes in ads. They are asking them to make it clear that Apple isn't in the sex toy business and that's perfectly within their right.
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Richard Longhurst said 3:56PM on 3-05-2007
"That they aren't, in other words, doing exactly what Apple is claiming they are doing and asking them not to do?"
Actually, no, Love Labs wasn't doing exactly what Apple was claiming they were doing.
Apple's threat of legal action was based on *copyright infringement* NOT passing off, which is what you're talking about.
There is NO copyright in style, so Apple was wrong.
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