After over 20 years of dispute, iPod-makers Apple Inc and Apple Corps Ltd, The Beatles' record label, have come to an agreement over their trademark.
Apple Corps, which was founded by The Beatles in 1968, is still owned by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, together with Yoko Ono, John Lennon's widow, and the estate of George Harrison.
They first sued Apple Inc over trademark infringement allegations in 1978, after which the computer-maker agreed to pay $80,000 and never enter the music business.
Since then there have been several other lawsuits.
In the early 1990s Apple Corps took issue with Apple Inc's inclusion of the musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) software included on Apple's Macintosh computers.
The issue was revisited again with the setting up of the iTunes download store in 2003.
Although terms were not disclosed, it was announced yesterday that the settlement gives Apple Inc ownership of all the trademarks related to the Apple name and logo in return for licensing certain trademarks back to Apple Corps for their continued use.
There was no indication as to whether the hugely popular back catalogue of Beatles songs will become available for download from the iTunes store any time soon.
