Alumni Celeste Chamberlain interviewed in an article about Apple’s small business targeting.
Take 3.14 Academy, a Maryland-based nonprofit that provides children with autism, their families, and communities with educational initiatives and training. In July 2019, founder Celeste Chamberlain, an autism specialist and the mother of two autistic children herself, filed what she thought would be a routine trademark application for her academy’s logo, featuring the Greek letter pi inside an apple.
But Apple’s lawyers intervened. In a 257-page filing opposing Chamberlain’s application, Apple argued that it is deeply involved in education due to the fact that, among other things, it has donated iPads and Mac computers to schools, offers educational apps in its App Store, and makes GarageBand available to music teachers. Therefore, the filing argued, 3.14 Academy’s logo was “likely to cause confusion, mistake, or deception in the minds of consumers.”
In an interview with TTP, Chamberlain said that she and her lawyer were initially baffled by Apple’s opposition to her trademark and thought the company and its legal team would quickly realize it was all a big mistake.