Apple Sues Small Business With Pear Logo Because 'People Can Get Confused' Users are furious at Apple's attitude toward the five-employee company.

Technology giant Apple is apparently opposed to a five-employee startup using a pear logo, even if they offer something totally different. The company in question is called Prepear, an app for cooking recipes. Apple has filed a lawsuit because it says the pear looks like the brand's iconic apple and can cause confusion among consumers.

The founder of Prepear, Russell Monson, has taken to social networks to ask for help with a Change.org petition to publicize the case and raise funds for the battle against Apple. "Apple has opposed small businesses with fruit-related logos by taking costly legal action even when they look nothing like Apple, or are not in the same line of business," Monson writes in the petition. "Apple has opposed the trademark application for our small business, Prepear, requiring that we change our obviously pear-shaped logo, which is used to represent our brand in the recipe management and meal planning business. Before attacking us, Apple has opposed dozens of other trademark applications filed by small businesses with fruit-related logos. Many of those were changed or abandoned. Most small businesses can't afford the tens of thousands of dollars it would take to fight Apple."

Related: Apple CEO Tim Cook Hits Billionaire Status

The statement continues: "We are a very small company with only five team members, and the legal costs of our fight for the right of all small business owners to be able to develop their own logo without fear has already cost us many thousands of dollars and the sad layoff. of one of the team members. We are defending ourselves against Apple not only to maintain our logo, but to send the message to big tech companies that bullying small ones has consequences."

The comments in the petition are varied, but people seem very angry. "It doesn't look like an apple at all," reads one. "Apple, you do not own the fruit images of the world. Be leaders, not bullies, please."

The petition has reached nearly 35,000 signatures as of this writing.