My take on it as well. Anything created (graphic, image, music, drawing, sketch, etc.) has copyright by that person/company. It's just a matter of whether or not they pursue/defend their interests (public opinion aside). This varies country to country, but for now, we're talking about the U.S. as it applies to Apple.
I wonder what the general forum consensus would have been if the opposite were to start happening, say from Micro$oft... Mr. Gates is quite the Type A+ personality also.....he just stays out of the media as of late.