This case does not set a bad precedent. Apple could probably buy the trademark using spare change they could find under their sofa cushions. Or they could come up with an alternative. It took me about 5 seconds to come up with something different (change the background color (I like green), and add a treble clef to the left of the notes). Voila, an image just as musical and sufficiently different to pass a trademark examination.

Strict trademark rulings don't hurt everyone in our community. They prevent big corporations from steamrolling over small businesses.

Nah, apple has done this before. iPhone was actually in use by some cheap 2.4ghz wireless handset, before the jesus phone came out.

Pretty sure that Apple tried to trademark it as soon as they launched the new iTunes icon. It's just that they've now gotten the final decision that they can't because one that is very similar to that already exists.

If only the Patent Office worked this way, too - rejecting many more new patents because there's already prior art for that. The problem with the Patent Office is that it's not strict at all about what they validate and approve as a patent. Pretty much anything goes it seems, from what we've seen recently.