The Beatles' recording company, Apple Corp., was given an opportunity to object to Apple Comp.'s use of the apple logo in association with the iTunes Music Store reports RegHardware.. Apple Corp at the time chose not to, the iPod maker's advocate claimed yesterday. Apple Corp. received an ITMS demo in January 2003 - four months before the service went live, Anthony Grabiner QC told the English High Court.

Apple Comp. argues that it uses its logo in conjunction with the service but not with the content. It says its logo disappears when users buy a song. It maintains ITMS hasn't infringed the 1991 agreement drawn up between the two companies to govern use of apple iconography because the service fits into the definition of what Apple Comp. can do.

Apple Corp., on the other hand, maintains that ITMS is all about selling recorded music, pure and simple, and that this puts the service within Apple Corp.'s sphere of operation.