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Apple forces name-switch on Napster cloner

Farewell, AppleSoup; hello, Flycode

Apple's lawyers have been quietly busy persuading a Napster clone developer to change its name.

And, indeed, the software company formerly known as AppleSoup should now be referred to as Flycode.

Flycode received a cease and desist request from Apple's ever more busy legal eagles some six weeks ago shortly after AppleSoup, founded by one of Napster's co-founders and one of the MP3 sharing software company's early financial backers, set up shop.

Of course, it's a wonder the duo didn't think of this before, it's so obvious. It's impossible to imagine that Apple wouldn't get shirty about another IT company using the A word, particularly after it was sued by the Beatles' recording company, an action that was later settled out of court (Apple said it wouldn't produce any music software, and then a couple of years launched its QuickTime multimedia code). There's nothing like having your own name questioned to make you vigorously pursue anyone whose name is equally too close for comfort.

AppleSoup... sorry, Flycode... - strewth, this is confusing - is working on a Napster clone that has built in copyright protection schemes. The software is still some way off launch, apparently, so the name-change shouldn't hit the company too hard, which is probably why it agreed to Apple's request. The tremendous cost of fighting Apple almost certainly figured highly in the company's calculations too. ®

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