According to owners of a small German café, Apple has sent a cease and desist letter over the use of the above logo. Apfelkind, which is German for “apple baby,” is a family-oriented coffee and tea house that opened this April in the city of Bonn.

The owner of Apfelkind, Christin Römer, registered the logo with the fashion and service industry in Munich this June. In the letter from Apple’s lawyers, they claimed that the logo could cause confusion with Apple’s global brand.

The café’ (below) is advertised as an establishment for “children, coffee, and cake.” Its website describes it as a place where parents can relax over a cup of coffee, while their children are occupied in a playroom that features painting. Their menu contains several apple-laden snacks and beverages, such as apples with red cocoa cream, sugar apples, and apple blossom tea.

Apple’s attorneys will likely argue that, even if this café’s owner has no intention of capitalizing off of their success, letting it slide could establish precedence for other (blatant and intentional) infringement of the Apple logo.

Whatever Apple’s reasons are for pursuing this matter, it’s a far cry from incidents like those fake Apple stores in China. One has to wonder if this could be a P.R. disaster for the company, if a story like this were to blow up. The majority of the public doesn’t view Apple as tyrants who bully small business owners into submission, but more people may start to think that if they hear about cases like this.

Römer says that she filed a legal letter with Apple, disputing the claim that her logo causes any confusion. She has not decided whether to voluntarily change the logo yet.

via lxnews