M.I.C. Gadget was selling a goofy “Pineapple CEO” doll online for $89, an action figure that pokes fun at His Steve’s efforts to sneak shuriken out of Japan.
The action figures were nicely detailed and quite complete and, like any good Chinese knock-off, didn’t immediately appear to infringe on copyrights, especially since you could “mix and match” the base so it didn’t look like the Apple logo. Alas, Apple’s lawyers thought different:
“Mr. Jobs has not consented to the use of his name and/or image in the Product. Unauthorized use of a person’s name and/or likeness constitutes a violation of California Civil Code Section 3344, which prohibits the use of any person’s name, photograph or likeness in a product without that person’s prior consent… The figure and its stand are replications of Mr. Jobs image and Apple’s trademark. The thin attempt to “disguise” the figure in its current iteration does not impact the fact that you are plainly trading on Mr. Jobs image…”
That’s right: the action figures are no more. Generally it was a goofy move to begin with, but God bless those M.I.C. boys for trying.
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