The iGasm, a sex toy that connects to portable music players and vibrates in unison with songs, is advertised in a colorful campaign featuring the black silhouette of a woman using the device, complete with white headphones, in front of a neon pink background.
Ann Summers and the iGasm logo, along with the Ann Summers' trademark apple icon, are prominently placed in white text — in a font strikingly similar to Apple's. The sales pitch reads: "Go at it hard and fast with a pounding drum 'n' bass track or chill with an ambient classic."
Apple's lawyers claim the poster is a rip-off of the company's iPod ads, and in a letter sent to Ann Summers headquarters, they threaten the possibility of legal action, should the toy company fail to remove its iGasm ads from retail locations.
Dean Boland, an attorney specializing in technology law, told XBIZ that Apple will have to prove whether Ann Summers' ad campaign is close enough to Apple's to confuse the public, advertisers or shareholders into thinking the iGasm is a new Apple product.
And if Apple has not, in fact, trademarked its ad art, then Boland said the company can argue that Ann Summers has infringed its trade dress, having made its product similar to the iPod in so many ways, that customers — as well as anti-adult groups — cannot distinguish it from other Apple products.
"It could have a negative effect on [Apple] sales," Boland said, adding that customers could stop purchasing Apple products in protest, believing that Apple has entered the realm of sex-toy retail.
In response to Apple's notice, Ann Summers President Jacqueline Gold has reportedly joked about the matter, saying, "Perhaps I can send them an iGasm to put a smile back on their faces."
An Apple representative did not respond to press requests by deadline.