Apple Licenses Swiss Railway Clock Design for iOS

[wildkitten]

[citation][nom]bustapr[/nom]i still cant understand why governments let apple get away with stealing something first, then licensing/buying it off with their infinitely deep pockets. goes to show that in this world law means shit if you have enough money.[/citation]
Because it's not a criminal case, it's a civil matter. If governments got involved in something like this it would be a much much worse situation.

The Apple haters are as bad as the iSheep. Let's keep some objectivity here. SBB called Apple on it, Apple didn't make excuses, they acknowledged it, negotiated a settlement and paid. SBB, the owner of the design is pleased so why should we make something a criminal matter.

Can't help but believe if Tom's had written this article with Samsung in place of Apple and Apple in place of SBB that these same people who used words like "stealing" and calling for government action would then be saying that something round with some stylish design couldn't be patented.

 

[house70]

[citation][nom]wildkitten[/nom]Because it's not a criminal case, it's a civil matter. If governments got involved in something like this it would be a much much worse situation.The Apple haters are as bad as the iSheep. Let's keep some objectivity here. SBB called Apple on it, Apple didn't make excuses, they acknowledged it, negotiated a settlement and paid. SBB, the owner of the design is pleased so why should we make something a criminal matter.Can't help but believe if Tom's had written this article with Samsung in place of Apple and Apple in place of SBB that these same people who used words like "stealing" and calling for government action would then be saying that something round with some stylish design couldn't be patented.[/citation]
[citation][nom]wildkitten[/nom]Of course what's interesting that I see no one pointing out is the fact that Apple didn't whine about this. I doubt seriously if Apple executives plotted to try to steal the Swiss Railway clock design. Likely what happened is the person who wrote the app saw a picture of the clock and used it.I'm no fan of Apple, but rather odd how they didn't start saying you can't patent a round design with some markings on it. Instead, they said "Yep, you're right, we screwed up and here's your money".You are right that it appears Mondaine is the exclusive licensee, however, that is a matter between SBB and Mondaine, not between Apple and Mondaine. SBB owns the design and if they licence it out in violation to an existing agreement with Mondaine, that is not Apple's fault.[/citation]
For a non-Apple fan, you sure sound very apologetic on their behalf.
You can say that you are only stating the facts, but so was I when I pointed out the Mondaine deal. I did not imply that Apple was somehow at fault for breaching that exclusivity deal; their only fault was stealing the design in the first place and paying for it only after being caught. I am deeply sorry for Apple ( actually, I am not but that's another story), but this particular design is recognizable worldwide, there is no way in hell that some designers of Apple's caliber would not have known and recognized it in advance. That is just a lame excuse. I happen to know quite a bit about watches and clocks, but I am no specialist; even so, I could recognize the design from start. Even if the app designer was ignorant about this, the subsequent QC/design approval/OS integration/control freaks/etc steps could have caught it before releasing it as part of the OS. Your "oops, my bad" argument is invalid for a company with almost infinite resources as Apple.
BTW, your last paragraph (the one about Samsung) is pure trollish speculation.

 

[bin1127]

[citation][nom]jojesa[/nom]Apple could not come up with a clock design of their own! Wow! Mind-blowing![/citation]

Not really. Nothing apple can or cannot do really surprises me anymore.

 

[wildkitten]

[citation][nom]house70[/nom]For a non-Apple fan, you sure sound very apologetic on their behalf.You can say that you are only stating the facts, but so was I when I pointed out the Mondaine deal. I did not imply that Apple was somehow at fault for breaching that exclusivity deal; their only fault was stealing the design in the first place and paying for it only after being caught. I am deeply sorry for Apple ( actually, I am not but that's another story), but this particular design is recognizable worldwide, there is no way in hell that some designers of Apple's caliber would not have known and recognized it in advance. That is just a lame excuse. I happen to know quite a bit about watches and clocks, but I am no specialist; even so, I could recognize the design from start. Even if the app designer was ignorant about this, the subsequent QC/design approval/OS integration/control freaks/etc steps could have caught it before releasing it as part of the OS. Your "oops, my bad" argument is invalid for a company with almost infinite resources as Apple.BTW, your last paragraph (the one about Samsung) is pure trollish speculation.[/citation]
First off, I know you didn't imply Apple was at fault for any breach of contract between SBB and Mondaine. I was merely clarifying it because based on experience reading comments, I would think many people would assume Apple was somehow doing something wrong to Mondaine.

Second of all, I am not apologetic. I do own an iPod Touch 4G but I think most of their products are not user friendly and ridiculously overpriced. I am no fan. I am just looking at this from an objective standpoint.

I would consider myself fairly well read, though not well traveled. I have never seen that clock design before and my first instinct would not be to think a clock face would in and of itself be patented or trademarked. To me, I see a generic design except for the second hand. I could very well see the person who designed the clock app not thinking it was patented/trademarked, although I could see it as well as them seeing if they could get away with it.

But let's assume for a moment that indeed Apple did know from the beginning they were infringing on a patented/trademarked design. When confronted, what was their reaction? Did they try to say a clockface could not be patented/trademarked because we all use clocks? No, they paid up.

And yes, my last paragraph was speculation, but no it was not trolling. In many articles where Apple and their competitors have been featured I have seen the same people bash Apple in one article yet in another article they make comments supporting Apple's competitors for doing the same things. Some have no objectivity. Why is it that those who bash Apple for patenting their iPhone design not also saying it's wrong for SBB being able to patent their clock design?

 

[mrmaia]

If it was SBB making a clock in the shape of a rounded-edge rectangle, Apple would sue them for hundreds of millions of dollars. This is disgusting.

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]TheCapulet[/nom]Nope, nothing wrong with blatantly stealing others work at all.[/citation]
[citation][nom]invlem[/nom]I don't know what people see as negative here, the end result is exactly what should have happened. There's taking prior work as inspiration and making your own, then there's direct copying of the design with absolutely no attempt to make it your own. Which is exactly what was done here, no attempt was made on the artists behalf to make the design different.ts a perfect replica of the original, so yes, "its a clock", how does phrase make it any different than "its an iPod"?[/citation]

take a look at it from a design aspect.

you want people to see the minute marks, so you make them bold
you have an hour hand, and minute hand, both bold for easy to see

and when i googled it, second hands its kind of common to have them styled in some way shape or form.

you want to take that to a minimalistic extreme, but still have some kind of a style on the second hand, circle.

granted i wouldn't doubt that they stole it, but you have to also see how minimal istic this is, and how this could almost be appled to any clock. or how even on an off chance they put all this together on their own without knowledge of the clock, yea i know, its apple, they steal, but denying the posibility on such a minimal design would be stupid.

 

[house70]

[citation][nom]wildkitten[/nom]....But let's assume for a moment that indeed Apple did know from the beginning they were infringing on a patented/trademarked design. When confronted, what was their reaction? Did they try to say a clockface could not be patented/trademarked because we all use clocks? No, they paid up.And yes, my last paragraph was speculation, but no it was not trolling. In many articles where Apple and their competitors have been featured I have seen the same people bash Apple in one article yet in another article they make comments supporting Apple's competitors for doing the same things. Some have no objectivity. Why is it that those who bash Apple for patenting their iPhone design not also saying it's wrong for SBB being able to patent their clock design?[/citation]
Since you persist...
In the case (kinda likely, according to my reasoning) that Apple knew the design was infringing on an existing patent, they were already in the wrong by persisting into using said design and hoping it's gonna fly under the radar (or even worse, thinking that SBB is gonna take it as a twisted compliment). Of course they paid up when confronted about it, they had no leg to stand on.
Regarding patenting one thing but not another: a generic clock face can not be patented, but a particular design of it can. There are round/squared clock faces all around, and nobody would dream of claiming the original design for them; however, you can tell one clock/watch from another by certain elements of design and the way these elements come together (there can be similar looking hands, for instance, between two different watches, but other elements of the dial makes them individually stand up for their brands). OTOH, Apple copied the entire face/design, not only some of it, and the entirety of it made the SBB clock unique and trademarked.
My point was, if an individual with average clock/watch knowledge can recognize a design, there was no way an entire army of well-paid designers employed by a powerful company like Apple could have mistakenly missed that, and absolutely no one in that control-freak chain of command did anything to ensure the theft was stopped before reaching production. Keep in mind, these are people that are very well-traveled, they mingle in high places all over the world, hence the argument "I didn't see it before, sorry" does not have a chance. I am pretty sure they knew they were stealing, but hoped they'll get away with it for as long as possible.
Finally, it is not the same patenting the entire design of a unique clock face and patenting a generic thing as "square with round corners" or "swipe to unlock". One is a generic shape and the other is a generic gesture on a touch screen (just like "pinch to zoom"). Not to mention that some of these elements have been in use before the patents were granted, and by different companies at that. People get upset about Apple patenting things that have already been used before and getting away with it.

 

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]wildkitten[/nom]I'm no fan of Apple, but rather odd how they didn't start saying you can't patent a round design with some markings on it.[/citation]
That's because the design of this clock isn't patented, it's trademarked. It's like someone stealing Apple logo (even though they stolen it from The Beatles) which is also trademarked.

 

[jn77]

And MacIntosh is is trademark for apples people eat, not a computer.... go figure. The only reason apple is where they are now is by stealing from everyone else.

As soon as this Icraze is "I"over, then Iapple will return to Inormal and Iampatenting all this words with Ieverything so I can Isue Iapple.

 

[beayn]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Funny, if it was the other way round they would go "thermonuclear" (as Jobs put it) and try and get a worldwide sales ban, no amount of licensing or money would be enough...But seeing as it is Apple, people always cave and take the money, someone needs to dig in theor heels and say "No, get your own f**king design"[/citation]Then they would get their own clock design and the SBB would get nothing.

 

[beayn]

[citation][nom]wildkitten[/nom]I doubt seriously if Apple executives plotted to try to steal the Swiss Railway clock design. Likely what happened is the person who wrote the app saw a picture of the clock and used it.[/citation]
This.