Apple’s Imitation is not Flattery

As you continue to bathe in the glow and light of the announcement of Apple’s new iPad, perhaps you can divert your attention to a few other Apple related topics that we’ll surely not hear the end of. Apple is known to claim dominance not just in the world of products, but in intellectual property rights, and domain names that are even closely similar to any of their product lines. We’ve read stories of Apple’s tight fist making one owner cough up numerous domain names for the sake of brand protection.

But here’s a story that only a few sites have picked up on. I first noticed this when I saw the presentation via an iPhone recording, but confirmed when I saw the photos, Apple’s new ebook front was a total copy of Will Shipley‘s Delicious Monster. Now if you go to TechCrunch you can read an extensive article on their conversation with Shipley and his frustration on several points. First that Apple had strategically hired several of his former employees, and then secondly lift the look and feel of his design for their purpose. An imitation situation that was not flattering one bit.

So while I expect Will to take some action against Apple for the design, it begs the question…why? Why not hire Will directly if you’re hiring his employees? In Will’s words “they can’t afford me.” That might be so, but to so blatantly lift the look and feel without any attribution or agreement seems really heavy handed.

Do companies like Apple work outside the boundaries of standard practice? They seem so concerned when people encroach on their territory that it would seem appropriate that they would be wary of doing the same to others. While Shipley’s application does do more than just books, covering all types of media, I definitely think we’ll be hearing more on this in the days and weeks to come.

Photo Courtesy of TechCrunch

Tags: delicious monster ipad techcrunch will shipley