Apple<\/a> Cinemas but not the Cupertino-based tech monolith, which is now going to court in a bid to force the company into changing its name.<\/p>\n\n\tIn a lawsuit filed on Friday in Massachusetts federal court, Apple accuses the theater chain of trademark infringement for taking advantage of its brand to trick consumers into believing that two companies are affiliated with one another.<\/p>\n
\n\tApple Studios launched in 2019, but its parent\u2019s movie and entertainment offerings date back to 1999, when it debuted the QuickTime Movie Trailers channel and introduced the Apple Cinema Display, a widescreen monitor designed for creative professionals. Over the next decade, iTunes emerged as one of the most popular distribution channels for movies and TV shows. And for a couple years starting in the late 2000\u2019s, Apple held various events in connection with the Tribeca Film Festival, including an opening night party and filmmaker panels.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt was around this time in 2013 when Apple Cinemas opened its first theater in Massachusetts, though the company claims it adopted its name from its planned debut at the Apple Valley Mall in suburban New England. It mostly operated in the Northeastern United States until this year, when it announced plans to launch two San Francisco locations and several others in various states.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn 2024, parent company Sand Media applied to register Apple Cinemas and a related mark for ACX \u2013 Apple Cinematic Experience but was denied. The trademark examiner concluded that its movie theaters are \u201cclosely related\u201d to Apple\u2019s entertainment services and may cause confusion among consumers. After, the tech giant sent a cease-and-desist, which was allegedly ignored.<\/p>\n
\n\tAt this point, Apple alleges that the theater chain started using a stylized apple logo and shifted its strategy away from opening locations in strip malls to shopping malls and city centers near Apple stores. Some landlords are under the impression that the two companies are related and gave Apple Cinemas favorable deals, the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n
\n\tExacerbating the issue, consumers have noted problems with Apple Cinema, according to the complaint. The lawsuit points to comments from some people that its theaters are \u201cgreasy,\u201d \u201cdirty\u201d and \u201cgrungy,\u201d with some complaining of tech issues, including the projection system and online purchase portal.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cConsumers should not go to an \u2018Apple Cinemas\u2019 theater thinking it is connected to the famous Apple brand, with all its goodwill and brand equity,\u201d writes Miranda Means, a lawyer for Apple, in the complaint. <\/p>\n
\n\tThe lawsuit seeks a court order that would force Apple Cinemas to cease using the world \u201cApple\u201d in its name, as well as unspecified damages.<\/p>\n
\n\tApple, like Disney, is known for aggressively protecting its trademarks. In 2022, it sought to block a Ukrainian director from naming his low-budget action comedy Apple-Man, a satire about a superhero who can levitate apples.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In June, a relatively unknown East Coast movie theater chain announced that it had signed a lease in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":119390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[239,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-119389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-apple","9":"tag-technology","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114973099026603004","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}