Apple and Lugz slug it out over iPod ad

iPod makers Apple and US leisure apparel company Lugz have become embroiled in the fierce battle over the new iPod /iTunes adverts featuring Eminem.

According to Lugz and many industry observers, the new iPod /iTunes adverts which debuted worldwide last week, bears more than a passing resemblance to its 2002 TV commercial.

"Both commercials show shadowlike silhouettes posed against stylised urban settings, which are rendered in red, orange, yellow and black," reports the New York Times.

Larry Schwartz, executive vice president of Lugz, told the newspaper: "We're very upset. The look and feel are awfully similar."

He revealed his surprise that a company as innovative as Apple would become involved in such a dispute.

"We think very highly of Apple," Mr. Schwartz said. "We don't understand how this could have happened."

But Apple has denied plagiarising the Lugz ad, stating that "any similarities between the two spots are regrettable".

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