Apple takes Prepear logo trademark fight to Canada

In early August, Prepear became the subject of ire for Apple's legal team, with the iPhone maker objecting to a trademark application for a fruit-based logo, one of a pear that it considered was too close to Apple's own. In an update over the logo threat, Prepear revealed Apple wasn't just going after the trademark application in the United States, but was going to do the same thing in a second country.

According to Prepear, iPhone in Canada reports, the app's attorneys told the company "not only would Apple be continuing their opposition to our logo" but that it had also "taken additional steps in preventing our logo from being registered as a trademark by filing an additional opposition against our trademark in Canada."

Prepear insists "this will increase the cost of the defense of our logo, and is a clear sign that Apple is doubling down on their fight against all fruit." Company founders also attempted to contact Apple's PR team about the "bullying behavior," but received no response.

"This is not just Apple's lawyers being lawyers, it appears that the organization at Apple stands behind its lawyers," a blog post from the company reads. "As is the case in all bullying, silence about the behavior of the bully is the same thing as support."

The small five-person Prepear team has already had to deal with "many thousands of dollars" in costs, which forced the layoff of one employee from its roster.

Shortly after the initial story was reported, a petition demanding Apple drops the lawsuit quickly gained over 9.000 supporters. Two weeks later, the same petition has swelled to approximately 220,000 signatories.