Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!gatech!ncsuvx!ece-csc!jnh
From: jnh@ece-csc.UUCP (Joseph Nathan Hall)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: The Beatles sue Apple
Message-ID: <3928@ece-csc.UUCP>
Date: 23 Feb 89 22:07:13 GMT
References: <1250@husc6.harvard.edu> <20765@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <41a632d2.a590@mag.engin.umich.edu>
Reply-To: jnh@ece-csc.UUCP (Joseph Nathan Hall)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Lines: 36

In article <41a632d2.a590@mag.engin.umich.edu> billkatt@caen.engin.umich.edu (billkatt) writes:
>In article <20765@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> lauac@wheeler.qal.berkeley.edu (Alexander Lau) writes:
>
>I'm fairly certain the agreement exists.  Remember when Apple made those
>Apple/Bose roommate speakers for the Apple IIGS?  They suddenly stopped making
>them soon after introduction.  They then became just Bose speakers, but still
>in Apple Platinum.  A reputable source told me the reason was that the
>agreement with the Beatles prhibited them from entering anything musically
>related.

This IS in fact true.  A friend of mine clerked with the SF firm (Brown &
someone?  I forget) that's handling the look and feel suit.  She wouldn't
divulge anything relevant to that case, but did mention that there was
considerable legal angst leading up to the introduction of the Apple MIDI
interface, and that the lack of features of said interface was to satisfy
the Brits' requirements that Apple not produce products specifically geared
toward music.  (I guess you can view the underpowered Apple MIDI interface
as just-another-serial-to-serial-converter.)  She mentioned the threatened
litigation over the Apple/Bose Roommates, too.

Something I have heard, also, was that Apple had considered buying the
rights to the Mark of the Unicorn Performer/Composer software at one time
(for publication under its own name), and that the deal had pretty much
been finalized when there was (again) the threat of litigation from overseas;
thus Claris was spun off to handle "Apple Performer" and "Apple Composer,"
in addition to MacWrite, MacDraw, etc.  The deal fell through later, though,
after an author's rights dispute.

Anyone else got any related tidbits?  I'm sure we'll all be amused to find
out the *TRUE* scope of the Apple Music Scandal ...

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