In the past 12 months it seems that Apple has sued just about everyone in the tech industry, and now it is looking like they are going to add a new name to the list, even though it is just a humble Chinese figurine manufacturing company.

Looking at the figurine, it seems like it is harmless enough; it is simply a plastic figure of Steve Jobs that is eerily accurate. He is dressed in his signature black turtleneck shirt with blue jeans and sneakers. Despite this, however, Apple does not like the look of it and is threatening the company, inIcon, with legal action unless the product is pulled from the market, something that would certainly hurt the sales of the Chinese toymaker.

Apple Threatens To Sue Steve Jobs Toymaker

Although this may seem like a rather insignificant piece of news surrounding Apple, it does bring up an interesting point: does Apple (or any company) have the right to protect the image of their CEO? It would be one thing if the doll was an iPhone or iPod, but an actual human makes it a whole different story. The figurine is actually holding a small iPhone in its hand, so Apple could possibly take that angle and try to have that removed. However, the company could potentially continue to make the dolls without the iPhone and, thus, regenerate more problems for Apple. In the letter that Apple reportedly sent to inIcon, they said that any sort of infringing on the company’s image is a criminal offense, and doing so with a Jobs’ figurine is an example of that.

If this sounds like something that you might want to buy you better act fast in case Apple is successful in getting it removed. The figuring was set to launch in February, but some are already making their way to eBay. The figurine is pretty pricey- it was expected to sell for $100, and the ones that are one sale on eBay now are going for as much as $135, but hey, at least it comes with a to-scale barstool for your Steve Jobs figurine to sit on, along with a new pair socks – definitely worth the extra $35 (not!).