Apple Computer

June 23, 2011 6:23 AM PDT
Apple sends another cease-and-desist over 'App Store'

by Don Reisinger

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http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/201...er_270x360.jpg Amahi will rename its App Store.
(Credit: Amahi)
Apple has reportedly sent a cease-and-desist letter to Amahi over its use of the term "App Store."
Amahi offers home server software for those who want to store and share content across their personal network. The company also has an application marketplace where users can download apps to extend the use of its software.
A member of the Amahi team published a letter that he claimed was sent to the software developer by Apple lawyers, saying that Amahi's use of "App Store" was in violation of the iPhone maker's trademark.
"It has recently come to our attention that Amahi is using the title 'App Store' for a tab on its Web site," Apple's lawyers wrote in the letter. "Amahi's use of the title 'App Store' improperly incorporates Apple's App Store mark in its entirety, and as such, is likely to confuse consumers into thinking that Amahi is offering Apple's App Store service to its customers, or is otherwise authorized by or associated with Apple, when of course, it is not."
The letter requests Amahi discontinue its use of the term App Store and "agree to refrain from such uses in the future."
For its part, Amahi said that it was in "shock" when it received the letter and that due to Apple's "heavy handed move" and its belief that it's "literally nothing next to Apple," it won't be able to fight the claim. Instead, the company is holding a contest for users to rename its application marketplace.
"We'd like it if you submit your suggestion for a term to use for Amahi's store area, in every language on the surface of the earth, except of course using the term 'app store,'" Amahi wrote on its blog.
Amahi's troubles with Apple are the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of whether or not Apple can stake claim to the App Store name.
In January, Microsoft filed a motion with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (U.S. PTO), saying that "App Store" is too generic for any company to hold a trademark. Apple responded in February, saying that App Store is no more generic than Microsoft's own Windows trademark.
"Microsoft, missing the forest for the trees, does not base its motion on a comprehensive evaluation of how the relevant public understands the term App Store as a whole," Apple said in its own filing with the U.S. PTO.
But it wasn't only Microsoft that Apple took issue with. In March, the company sued Amazon over the online retailer's use of "App Store." In a countersuit, Amazon argued that Apple's use of the term "App Store" was too generic, and called on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to throw the case out.
Though that battle is still being waged, just yesterday U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton said that she will "probably" dismiss Apple's claims against Amazon, telling the company that she was "troubled by the showing that you've made so far."
Apple's battles haven't only been with big companies as of late. Also in March, Apple sent a cease-and-desist letter to adult applications marketplace MiKandi. That company, which serves up x-rated applications, was forced to change its offering's name from "app store" to "app market."

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20...#ixzz1Q6rDdtyw

Having an Apple product is like living in a communist country. Nothing is compatible with the outside world and Steve Jobs is a dictator.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by catfish

Having an Apple product is like living in a communist country. Nothing is compatible with the outside world and Steve Jobs is a dictator.

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But the trains run on time, except when they don't. (reference to all the blather about how macs don't crash)

I made this thread because, basically, Apple is a HUGE financial organization.

Wither they go, so goeth others.....

I'd expect anything we find in regards to Apple to just go here so we don't have 300 threads when they start having issues.

Like Catfish, I believe Apple computers and other devices they make are like a socialist country. They may have plenty of choices, but not all options or available items. What they have will do most of what you want or need to do, but it constricts creative new things from be created by anyone but the Apple company or approved makers, like a dictatorship would.

Congress going after Apple now.

Live: Apple addresses Senate on taxes

Brett Molina, USA TODAY12:27 p.m. EDT May 21, 2013


12:24 p.m.: As we await the subcommittee hearing to reconvene, Apple shares are down 0.2% to $442.
12:14 p.m.: McCain jokes about why he has to constantly update his apps. "Sir, we try to make them better all the time," says Cook. The subcommittee is now taking a 10-minute break.
Update at 12:09 p.m. ET: McCain takes a dig at fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul, of Kentucky, also on the panel, who has charged that Apple has been bullied by the committee. "Do you feel that you have been bullied or harassed by this committee or its members?" Cook: "I feel very good to be participating in this."I hope to help the process. I would like for comp tax reform to be passed this year" and wants Apple to help achieve it."
Update at 11:59 a.m. ET: Levin: Regarding one of Apple's Irish companies, he asks if it is controlled and managed from the U.S. Cook says it is not a tax issue, but that he agrees.
Update at 11:56 a.m. ET: Levin asks if he would agree with JFK's statement criticizing deferral and using of tax havens were injustified. Cook says he cosnidered the Kennedy brothers as personal heroes, but doesn't consider deferral to be a "sham or abusive in any kind of way."
Update at 11:54 a.m.ET: Cook tells the panel that Apple "is the largest corporate income tax payer in America," paying $16 million a day.
Update at 11:48 a.m. ET: Cook recommends a "dramatic simplification of the federal tax code." He said it should be revenue-neutral, and would involve a lower corporate income tax. A "reasonable tax on earnings," he says, would allow a free flow of capital back to the United States. This, Cook says, "would likely result in an increase in Apple's U.S. taxes."
Update at 11:39 a.m. ET: The second panel featuring Cook, Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer and the company's head of tax operations, Phillip A. Bullock, are before the Senate subcommittee.
Apple CEO Tim Cook will appear before the Senate today in Washington to urge lawmakers to simplify corporate tax laws.
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing will explore how companies like Apple move profits offshore to pay less in U.S. taxes.
The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. ET. We'll have updates on Cook's comments once he starts speaking before lawmakers.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., argues Apple moves billions of dollars offshore to avoid paying taxes.
"Apple is an American success story," says Levin. "Its products are justifiably well known and used throughout the world. Just like millions around the world, I carry an iPhone in my pocket. The company's engineers and designers have a well-earned reputation for creativity. What may not be so well known is that Apple also has a highly developed tax avoidance system – a system through which it has amassed more than $100 billion in offshore cash in a tax haven."
Subcommittee member U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., agrees with the need for updated corporate tax laws but admonishes the company for not paying enough. "I have long advocated for modernizing our broken and uncompetitive tax code, but that cannot and must not be an excuse for turning a blind eye to the highly questionable tax strategies that corporations like Apple use to avoid paying taxes in America."
In prepared testimony released prior to Cook's appearance, Apple says it seeks "comprehensive" changes to corporate tax laws that account for digital commerce and global business endeavors.
"Apple has always believed in the simple, not the complex," says the company in a statement. "This is evident in the company's products and the way it conducts itself."
The company argues its the largest corporate tax payer in the United States, paying nearly $6 billion in taxes during the 2012 fiscal year. They expect to pay $7 billion this fiscal year.
"The Company supports comprehensive tax reform as a necessary step to promote growth and enable American multinational companies to remain competitive with their foreign counterparts in both domestic and international markets," reads an excerpt of Apple's testimony.
Apple also says it has been a "powerful engine" for job growth, estimating it has created 600,000 U.S. jobs: about 50,000 for Apple employees and another 550,000 jobs in related fields.

Tim Cook: We Pay 'Every Single Dollar' in Taxes Owed

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Published: Tuesday, 21 May 2013 | 11:37 AM ET
By: Reuters With AP

http://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc...g?v=1369160525 Getty Images
Tim Cook is sworn in at a Senate hearing about the company's offshore profit shifting and tax avoidance.



Apple's CEO is disputing assertions by a Senate panel that the company avoids billions of dollars in U.S. taxes by shifting profits to foreign affiliates.


Tim Cook testified at a hearing Tuesday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which released a damning report Monday on Apple's tax practices.


"We pay all the taxes we owe — every single dollar," Cook said. "We don't depend on tax gimmicks."


Cook, who is more accustomed to commanding a stage in front of investors and techies than facing a congressional committee, took a defensive tone with his opening statement. He punched out words when stressing the 600,000 jobs that the company supports and noting that Apple is the nation's largest corporate taxpayer. Cook said he advocates an overhaul of the U.S. tax code.




http://thumbnails.cnbc.com/VCPS/Y201...EN-TimCook.jpgPlay Video





Apple CEO Cook: We Don't Use 'Tax Gimmicks!'



In testimony to a Congressional panel, Apple CEO Tim Cook rejects accusations that Apple uses overseas entities to avoid billions in U.S. taxes and calls for a drastic simplification of the country's tax code.



The company came under fire on Tuesday at the Senate hearing over an investigation claiming that the high-tech giant has kept billions of dollars in profits in Irish subsidiaries and paid little or no taxes to any government.


"Apple effectively shifts billions of dollars in profits offshore—profits that under one section of the tax code should nonetheless be subject to U.S. taxes, but through a complex process avoids those taxes," said Sen. Carl Levin.


As chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Levin frequently dives into complex tax matters. His latest probe targets one of America's most successful companies, with a powerful global brand.


Offshore tax avoidance by multinational companies has become a high-profile issue. Cash-strapped governments worldwide are increasingly focused on wringing more tax revenue from corporations that often have interests in many countries and easily shift capital and assets across borders.


The Levin probe comes at a turbulent time in tax circles, with the Internal Revenue Service under investigation over agents' targeting conservative political groups.


The impact of that controversy and the hearings on the potential for a thorough overhaul of the tax code are hard to predict. Tax law writers in Congress had been inching forward on such a project before the IRS scandal erupted this month. The senator's investigation has been underway for months.




http://thumbnails.cnbc.com/VCPS/Y201...amer2-0521.jpgPlay Video


Cramer: Corporate Tax Code is 'Outrageous'



Jim Cramer says it's a "crowd pleaser" when Congress goes after Apple for avoiding taxes, because the stock is down so far from its highs. He thinks, however, that the corporate tax code shares a lot of the blame.



Levin, a Democrat, urged closing "unjustified tax loopholes" like those he said Apple used to avoid $9 billion in U.S. taxes in 2012.


"Closing these kinds of unjustified loopholes could provide hundreds of billions of dollars to reduce the deficit and avert damaging budget cuts," he said at the hearing.


"We should close them and dedicate the revenue that generates to these important priorities, whether or not we reform the overall tax code," he said.


Sen. John McCain praised Apple as a success story but said that its tax strategy "reflects a flawed corporate tax system."


The former Republican presidential nominee said, "It is a system that allows large multinational corporations to shift profits offshore to low-tax jurisdictions. For years, Apple has opted to forgo fully contributing to the U.S. Treasury and to American society by shifting profits and circumventing U.S. taxes."


Subcommittee staffers said Monday that Apple was not breaking any law and had cooperated fully with the inquiry.


Apple said in a comment posted online Monday that it does not use "tax gimmicks." It said the existence of its "Apple Operations International" unit in Ireland does not reduce Apple's U.S. tax liability and the company will pay more than $7 billion in U.S. taxes in fiscal 2013.


At the hearing, Levin's subcommittee issued a 40-page memorandum focused on explaining allegations that Apple used three subsidiaries with no "tax residency" in Ireland, where executives manage those companies.


The main subsidiary, a holding company that includes Apple's retail stores throughout Europe, has not paid any corporate income tax in the last five years, the subcommittee said.