Friday, 12 October 2012 20:31

Apple pays for their innovative clock design

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After the Swiss Federal Railways accused Apple of stealing their iconic clock design last month, the two companies have decided to establish a licensing agreement so Apple can use it in their new iOS. Shortly after the accusations were made by the SFR the two companies decided to arrange a meeting to settle this issue. Obviously Apple was aware that there is no way they could win if the Swiss company decided to sue them so they picked the gentleman’s way of sorting this out. The SFR even stated that they are proud their design is used so that was a huge sigh of relief for Apple.

Now the two companies have made an agreement and Apple has decided to pay the price they both agreed upon. It's not known how much the price was, but if we consider the statements from SFR about being proud of being part of iOS, it could be much lower than it would possibly be if this were someone like Samsung for example. It is possible that it will be announced in an official statement (if one is made), but considering the bad PR that Apple was getting about copying, they might want to say something about it.
apple  clock

The clock was designed back in 1944 by Hans Hilfiker, and is used across Switzerland in their train stations. It was licensed by a Swiss watch maker Mondaine, so Apple is happy they got away this time without going to Court to settle this in front of a judge. It's quite sad that they always try to emphasize their originality and innovation and then they end up copying something this simple. It would be interesting to see what would have happened if Switzerland Railways decided to press charges against them, but they acted like a gentleman and let Apple go pretty easy. Maybe Apple should learn from their behavior next time they try to sue someone for copyright infringement. What do you think?

Read 2341 times Last modified on Friday, 12 October 2012 21:43

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