Beatles pipped in Apple trademark war ruling
 

The Beatles' company Apple Corps lost its long-running trademark battle with Apple Computer in a High Court ruling on Monday over the use of the famous name and logo.
Apple Corps had accused the US company of breaching a trademark agreement by promoting music products.

The dispute centered on Apple Computer's revolutionary iTunes music store website, which allows users of its iPod to download and save thousands of songs.

The Beatles' company was seeking financial damages and court orders to stop Apple Computer using the "apple" marks in connection with the iTunes website.

The rock-and-roll legends' multimedia corporation sued the US firm in a multi-million-pound action over the use of the Apple name and logo in a spat which goes back to the 1980s.

London-based Apple Corps claimed the computer company was in breach of a 1991 agreement which forbade each side entering the other's exclusive "field of use" of the Apple name.

The deal between the companies gave Apple Corps owned by former Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the widows of bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison -- the exclusive right to use "apple" marks for the record business, the firm's lawyer Geoffrey Vos told the court in March.