3rd grader gets 'cease and desist' letter from Apple legal department

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://cbs13.com/topstories/local_story_104012157.html

In her letter, Shea outlined her ideas for improving iPods like adding song lyrics.

“Have the words on the screen so they could sing along and stuff,” said Shea.

So she mailed it, and waited for three months, and when a letter arrived from apple, the whole family gathered around to read it.

“She was very upset. She kind of threw the letter up in the air and ran into her room and slammed the door,” said Shea’s mom.

The letter was not from Steve Jobs, it was signed the senior counsel, Apple Law Department.

That's right, apple's legal department, telling a nine year old that apple does not accept unsolicited ideas. Apple's legal department told her not send them her suggestions, and if she wants to know why, she could read their legal policy on the Internet.

[Bonobo]

1. OMG!!! Nader was right!! Corporations ARE evil!!!

[regnaD kciN]

2. This already came up in the Lounge a couple of days ago...

...and it turns out the story is over a year old.

Still tacky on Apple's part, but I understand the incident caused them to issue new procedures for when such letters come from kids rather than adults trying to make big bucks selling their concept to the company.

And, technically speaking, it wasn't a "cease and desist" letter -- it was a form letter saying that Apple wouldn't accept unsolicited recommendations, which is standard procedure for companies who fear getting sued over something they had developed, but which might be too close to something a user suggested to them (maybe even after it had been designed in-house).

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. Ooops. Sorry for posting an old story.

[Swamp Rat]

9. We like stories like this in GD too.

;)

[madfloridian]

10. Thanks for posting. Some of us don't go to the lounge.

I had not seen this. Poor kid, what a rude awakening.

[Recursion]

3. That's how "Tiny Toons" got pitched

Some kids sent WB the idea but, having got a similar response, sent it again using a WB return address on the envelope, and managed to convince somebody in the studio...

[billyoc]

6. Clever kids.

Oh, btw, you probably know, OpenBSD 4.2 is being released today. ;)

[Recursion]

8. I'm downloading now

Native SATA
i810 supporting i965GM (hello Beryl)
FFS2
OOo 2.2.1
GHC 6.6.1

I'm like a kid in a candy store. A very, very dorky kid in a candy store..

[billyoc]

12. Hehe, yeah, I saw the avatar, made me curious so I checked their web site.

I'm dl'ing now too. :freak:

[1932]

5. Wait 'til she sends her movie script about this story to a film production company unsolicited

[Swamp Rat]

7. Rather callous response to a child.

They could have explained their policy with kid gloves and offered her something educational, or at least a freakin' Apple logo sticker! :eyes:

[Recursion]

13. You're missing the point -- they can't even look at it

If they're like a lot of companies with big IP interests, they have a "clean room" that screens mail just to see if it's an unsolicited idea, which starts a more or less automated process. The point is that nobody who works on the creative side is even supposed to know that Person X submitted an idea at all. If somebody read enough to see that it was from a kid, somebody read too much.

[Swamp Rat]

19. No, I did not 'miss any point.'

Automated response system or not, it is still a callus response to a child.

MY response was to the OP, and is therefore not precluded by any condition put upon it thereafter.

[Proud2BAmurkin]

11. So what. They want to prevent people from claiming they "stole" ideas

Who knows how many suggestions they get but it's a legit way to avoid a nuisance lawsuit

[REP]

14. My iPod displays lyrics - maybe hers is broken

I don't have a 3d en Nano (yet), but my 2d gen sure as hell does.

[SyntaxError]

15. lol...

I take it they do that to prevent people from saying "apple stole my idea after I sent it to them"... This is sad and I feel bad for the little girl, but I still understand why a company would have such a policy...

[Tesha]

16. It's the same policy that "Ironic Times" employs. (NT)

[ecstatic]

17. lol. I love stories like this

I can send them to my apple-fanatic friends to irritate them. :evilgrin:

[Atman]

18. Okay, this is really a non-issue, and some of you are missng a very big point.

This "unsoliticed material" bit is very common. Look in the front of any magazine, the tiny print next to the staff listings and corporate addresses. Artists/writers deal with this all the time. It is very common, and there is a very good reason. In fact, most places will mail you unsoliticed material back to you unopened (if they have a way of knowing it's a script or some other intellectual property). Why? To protect themselves against frivolous lawsuits and claims of plagiarism. It happens all the time. This kid's family could have filed a lawsuit against Apple that was totally without merit, claiming that their little precious thought up the idea of onscreen lyrics (or whatever), and demanding that Apple pay up. That costs money, which causes prices to rise.

You're only hearing about this because it happened to a third grader, but I'm pretty certain Apple's corporate policy doesn't include a waiver if you're a cute little kid.

Get real, people. Don't we have anything more substantive to argue about. This is SOP for any business dealing in intellectual property.

.