Latest Steve Jobs action figure may pose legal trouble
As expected, the $99 posable figure resembling late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs now appears to be following the same legal path as its predecessors.The Telegraph today reports that Apple sent In Icons--the figure's creators--a cease and desist note, claiming the company is breaking the law by creating a product that "resembles the technology company's logo, person's name, appearance or likeness of its products." The figure, which made waves earlier this week, closely resembles Jobs, including his well-known wardrobe of a black turtleneck and jeans, and frameless glasses. Among the other things included in the kit that went on pre-sale this month were a holdable apple and a chair that could be used to pose the figure, as well as backdrop sporting the familiar "one more thing" catch phrase synonymous with Apple product launches.Similar legal efforts took down previous Jobs action figures, which were briefly sold by China's MIC Gadget. The first product shipped out to customers up until November 2010, unlike this one, which has gone on sale but isn't slated to ship out next month. MIC Gadget later followed up with a rejiggered version that had Jobs dressed up as a ninja, with which Apple also took offense.Apple did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation on whether it had sent any correspondence to In Icons, nor did the Hong Kong-based company reply on its plans to continue sales.It remains unclear how many of the figures have been purchased and if the company will attempt to go ahead with shipping it out, or end up refunding early buyers. In an interview with ABC News yesterday ahead of any news of legal action, In Icons head Tandy Cheung said that "Apple can do anything they like," and "I will not stop, we already started production."
