A moron in a hurry
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"A moron in a hurry" is a phrase that appears to have been first used in the 1979 English legal case of Morning Star Cooperative Society v Express Newspapers Limited. In that case, the phrase was an informal reference to the likelihood of confusion between the title of two publications, which is also an important principle in trademark law.
In the 1979 case, the publishers of the Morning Star, a British Communist party publication, sought an injunction to prevent Express Newspapers from launching their new tabloid, which was to be called the Daily Star. The court was unsympathetic, and stated that only "a moron in a hurry" could confuse the two publications. In the same year, it was quoted in the same context in the case of Newsweek Inc. v. British Broadcasting Corp., [1979] R.P.C. 441 by Lord Denning. The phrase was considered once in Canada in C.M.S. Industries Ltd. v. UAP Inc., 2002 SKQB 303,[1] where the court ruled that UAP had infringed the plaintiff's trademark.
The phrase has recently been revived by lawyers for Apple Computer in that company's most recent legal dispute with The Beatles' Apple Corps, over the appearance of Apple Computer's apple logo at certain times when using Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store (see Apple Corps v. Apple Computer). The lawyers have publicly argued that iTunes, as a music distributor, cannot be confused with the record label Apple Corps. However, this dispute does not directly concern trademark infringement, which requires an assessment of likelihood of confusion. Instead, Apple Corps contends that Apple Computer has breached the terms of a previous trademark settlement agreement. In 1991, Apple Computer agreed not to use its logo in connection with music content. Apple Computer now argues that iTunes does not offer "content" as it does not produce its own music.
