A WESTERN Australian farmer and inventor is locked in a David and Goliath battle with tech giant Apple over the name of an agtech startup he is looking to trademark.
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Esperance farmer and president of the WA Farmers grains section Mic Fels launched the first of the iPaddock suite of apps, including iPaddock Yield, iPaddock Spray and iPaddock Rain in 2012.
The apps are designed to be used for farm management and record keeping and have been retailed via the Apple app store since they were launched without incident.
Since then, iPaddock has commercialised the Alphadisc seeding system, and the Turbodrum, Typhoon and Twister harvesting upgrades, which now form the majority of the turnover for iPaddock.
However, when Mr Fels went to trademark the iPaddock name in Australia he was notified that Apple would be opposing his application for a trademark on the grounds the name of the app was too similar to Apple products such as the iPod and iPad and that it caused confusion.
Apple was contacted but declined to comment on Mr Fels' claims.
Mr Fels said the Apple objection failed the pub test of credibility.
"It is a long bow to suggest anyone would think I am tied up with Apple, certainly I have never been contacted and asked about Apple products due to running the iPaddock apps," he said.
"There is no confusion"
Mr Fels said he had received legal advice that he had a sound case to say there should be no opposition to him registering the trademark but added that it was daunting taking on a company like Apple.
"When you go head to head with a massive corporation like that with deep pockets there is the risk that they will just keep going no matter the cost if they so desire," Mr Fels said.
He said he had considered simply renaming the apps but said he had invested too much of his life in developing his existing brand.
"Anyone who says just change your name, hasn't spent the last 9 years travelling to field days and building a trusted quality brand up from literally nothing, to the point where finally we have a valuable market presence and an authentic reputation," he said.
"This was never a massive money spinner for me, our farm business has bankrolled it from the beginning, and we have spent more on legal fees than we have made since it started.
"I'm proud of the innovations and technology that iPaddock stands for, and I get huge satisfaction when other farmers benefit from using it.
"But if we had to start over, we would seriously have to consider if it was actually worth going through all that again", he said.
"I am more than willing to change the look of our logos, and even put in a disclaimer saying I am in no way affiliated with Apple, so I'm just hoping something can be resolved.
"It would be so good to just talk to a human at Apple, rather than just 'my people talking to their people' at great cost to all parties."
Mr Fels said he was surprised the issue had arisen now.
"When I submitted the app to the Apple app store to use their platform you would think if they had a problem with it they would have brought it up then."