The media is reporting that Apple is about to settle with the Beatles for using their name...again. (The image of Sir Paul McCartney is from Facade.com.)

For those under, say, 50, Apple Corps was a name created by The Beatles in their latter days for various business ventures. (For those under 40, there once was a musical group called The Beatles. For those under 30, designer Stella McCartney's dad plays the guitar.)

Most didn't happen. Most that did happen went belly-up. But the company got the right to their name, what rights the group had to their songs, and other "intellectual property."

Now, for the third time, apparently, the surviving Beatles (McCartney and Starr) are about to cash in -- big time.

For those scoring at home, Apple Corps has already gotten two bites of Jobs' Apple. In the early 1980s, Apple Computer agreed to pay a large sum of money and never to enter the music market. A second settlement covering QuickTime, brought in $26.5 million, and another promise not to enter the music business.

Well, what about iTunes? What about the iPod? Exactly.

Again, according to press reports, the new settlement includes a "monster payout," the appointment of Paul McCartney to the Apple Computer board, and maybe even a big hunk of stock as well.

Getting by with a little help from friends, indeed.