Man & Machine, a peripheral computer company, has issued a lawsuit against Apple Inc. and CBS for their decision to use the name ”Mighty Mouse” for their mouse offer. Apparently, M & M has been manufacturing and selling their ”Mighty Mouse” branded water and chemical resistant mouse ever since 2004, which is more than one year before Apple launched its own mouse with the same name.

The company is being called in court for their plan to bully the competition around, using their size, popularity and budget to enlarge their user-base even more by confusing the market and stealing M & M’s clients.

"Apple's use of the trademark Mighty Mouse for its computer mouse is likely to give consumers the misimpression that the larger, predatory junior user (Apple) is the source of the smaller senior user's (M&M's) goods," the company added, according to the MacObserver.

Another relevant point is that when searching for Mighty Mouse, the first one hundred results only present the cartoon and Apple’s product, eliminating the visibility of M & M’s device.

The reason why CBS was also called in is that the media company and televison network innitialy licensed the name to Apple even though CBS’s trademark does not cover the computer peripherals. The company indeed owns the trademarks associated with the original cartoon but it seems that its rights only go so far.

What M & M demands is an injunction imposed which will prevent Apple from selling its devices and also, of course, a significant monetary settlement.