Hi Everyone. This is Take Off. We're like the cheat codes to your favorite video game - empowering, game-changing, and providing an edge in the tech ecosystem.

Here's what we're serving up today:

• The Case of Apple vs Apples 🍎

• Netflix’s K-Drama Crush 🥰🎥

• Asteroids ☄️

• Wednesday Wires 💰

The Case of Apple vs Apples 🍎

Apple, the tech titan, is apparently trying to claim its right over all apple-shaped things under the sun in Switzerland. Yeah, you read that right – Apple wants to own apples.

This oddity of intellectual property law is unfolding as Apple Inc. takes on the 111-year-old Fruit Union Suisse, an organization that's been using a red apple as their logo longer than anyone at Apple Inc. has been alive!

However, this is not a first. Apple's hunger for litigation is well-known. Here’s a not-so-exhaustive list of some of the IP cases that Apple has fought over it’s logo:

• Meal-Prep App with a pear logo. (Read here)

• Singer-songwriter named Frankie Pineapple. (Read here)

• A German cycling route. (Read here)

• A decades long battle with the Beatles music label - Apple Corps. (Read here)

The Tech Transparency Project reported that between 2019 and 2021, Apple made more trademark oppositions than Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, and Google combined.

Wow, now that's a serious appetite for legal action!

The Swiss apple growers are feeling the crunch, uncertain about how Apple might wield this 'power of the fruit.' Anything apple-y could be under fire and advertising could become a minefield of lawsuits.

Looks like Apple's not only trying to protect their nibbled-at fruit logo, they want to own the whole apple orchard!

If Apple wins, it could cost the Fruit Union Suisse "millions" in rebranding.

Netflix’s K-Drama Crush 🥰🎥

We're heading to the bustling city of Seoul, South Korea, the entertainment hub that's churning out Netflix's hottest shows like "Squid Game" and "The Glory".

The Squid Game phenomenon proved that the world is ready for more K-dramas, which had a whopping 111 million viewers in just the first 28 days after its launch.

If you're not aware, Netflix just doubled down on their love for South Korean content by announcing a whopping $2.5 billion investment which is 2x what they've spent since 2016.

Clearly, their affair with K-dramas is getting serious!

But, as we all know, with great power comes great... controversy.

Now, our Korean friends love Netflix as much as we do, with a staggering 60% of global users binging at least one Korean title last year.

However, eyebrows are being raised over Netflix's market domination, causing ripples of worry in the local market.

• Netflix seems to have cast a long shadow over local platforms like Tving with the global giant boasting a market share of 38% compared to a modest 13% share by the local player.

• The South Korean government is throwing a life vest to local streaming platforms in response to this, dishing out about $390 million.

The government hopes that this can promote both the international Goliath as well as its homegrown media brands.

Meanwhile, we’re just waiting for more K-Dramas so we can stop binging on the current ones for the 287th time!

☄️ Asteroids ☄️

Instagram now finally allows users to download public Reels. TikTok's been doing it for years, but hey, better late than never, Insta! Remember, it's public accounts only, and they might come with that stylish IG watermark. 📌🔖

Reddit removed moderators behind the latest protests before restoring a few of them. Some subreddits went NSFW to protest the site, and Reddit responded by removing the mod teams. 🎢😅

Twitch adds new labels for streams with mature content. They're replacing the old "Mature Content" toggle with more descriptive "Content Classification Labels". From mature games to vulgar language, streamers can now warn you what's coming. 🤐🔞

💰 Wednesday Wires 💰

Render, the DevOps cloud darling, just bagged $50M in a Series B. They plan on beefing up their platform to charm larger engineering teams and doubling down on top-notch tooling. 🛠️💼

Deepchecks, an Israeli startup keeping AI honest, has bagged $14M in seed funding. Offering an open-source tool for quality checking AI models, they're the ML watchdog we didn't know we needed, but won't live without! 🤖🔍

Go-Ventures, born from Indonesia's GoTo, has bagged $240M for its second fund and is now strutting its stuff as Argor Capital. While still pals with GoTo, Argor's playing the investment field globally, from Asia to the U.S. 🎩💰

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