Apple has lost its bid to register part of a federal trademark for “Apple Music” on Tuesday after a U.S. appeals court ruled for a jazz musician who challenged the tech giant’s application, reports Reuters.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected Apple’s argument that it had priority over trumpeter Charlie Bertini’s “Apple Jazz” trademark rights based on its ownership of an earlier trademark from the Beatles’ music label Apple Corps Ltd.
Reuters says the court allowed Bertini to block Apple’s bid for a federal Apple Music trademark covering live performances, one of several trademark uses Apple sought to secure.
AppleJazz Records began as a way for Bertini — a trumpet player, recording artists, and teacher — to promote the recordings of his “AppleJazz Band”, a festival band that began in 1984 and performed once a year at the AppleJazz Festival in Preble, New York. Unable to sell this material to a major label, Charlie started his own label and manufactured CDs to be sold at The AppleJazz Festival and other similar music festivals across the U.S.
