The Two Apples Bury the Hatchet

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MICHELE NORRIS, host:

One of the places you can download audio books is iTunes. But if you want some Beatles music online, you won't have much luck.

(Soundbite of song, "We Can Work It Out")

Mr. JOHN LENNON (The Beatles): (Singing) Try to see it my way. Do I have to keep on talking 'til I can't go on?

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

The Beatles, represented by their own Apple Corps, have kept their music off of Apple, Incorporated's iTunes, and they haven't been distributed anywhere else online either.

(Soundbite of song, "We Can Work It Out")

Mr. LENNON: (Singing) We can work it out. We can work it out.

NORRIS: Also, the two Apples have been in and out of court for years because they couldn't workout who owned the name Apple.

SIEGEL: But today, they announced that they have come together. They want to hold each other's hand and they're going to let it be. There are going to be two Apples. This dispute, Apple Computer versus Apple Corps, has been going on since the late 1980s.

Steven Levy has been writing about Apple, and he says that the trademark lawsuit was resolved for the first time in 1991.

Mr. STEVEN LEVY (Author, "The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness"): There was a settlement on behalf of the computer company. They paid $30 million that went from the Silicon Valley to the pockets of the Beatles, and a promise that they really wouldn't become a music company.

NORRIS: Then came the iPod and iTunes, which meant that Apple - the one with computers - was in the music business, the same business as Apple - the one with the Beatles. So they ended up back in court until today's deal. The computer maker now owns all the trademarks related to Apple and will license certain trademarks back to the Beatles' Apple.

SIEGEL: There is no word as to whether the Beatles might finally release their catalog through iTunes. The Fab Four are one of the last major holdouts to go digital. Steven Levy, author of "The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness," says the Beatles' online debut is probably in the works.

Mr. LEVY: I think that this settlement is the next step to something we're going to see sometime in the next few months, of an announcement of the Beatles are coming to the iTunes store, and they'll have a lot of fanfare, a lot of noise. And it will be a big, you know, publicity boost for both sides.

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