According to Phone Arena , Apple is filing an intellectual property (IP) application for the image of a real apple in Switzerland. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has also recorded similar activities of the "bitten apple" in many different countries around the world, including Japan, Turkey, Israel and Armenia.
The move in Switzerland could worry Fruit Union Suisse (FUS), a long-standing fruit company in the country. FUS currently uses a red apple logo with the Swiss flag, and if Apple gets the intellectual property rights, the 111-year-old local company will have to change its logo.
Apple may force FUS to change its logo (red)
"We really can't understand this because Apple is not just trying to protect their bitten apple image. Their goal now is to own the copyright of the real apple image, which seems to be free for everyone," said Jimmy Mariéthoz, Director of FUS.
Apple’s pursuit of a Swiss trademark for the apple began in 2017 when it filed an application with the Swiss Intellectual Property Institute (IPI) for an IP license for a black-and-white image of a Granny Smith apple (a green, tart apple). The company wanted the right to use the image on consumer electronics and to obtain ownership of certain items it protected. IPI argued that the common apple image should continue to be considered in the public domain.
Last April, Apple appealed and the case was brought to a Swiss court to only deal with product cases where Apple could not register the apple trademark.
Mr. Mariéthoz believes that Apple could use its position as a large enterprise to squeeze smaller units, and is worried that the iPhone maker has always been very active in protecting its intellectual property while showing signs of going further, pursuing IP related to the actual apple.
In fact, Apple has taken companies using the apple logo to court many times, even suing an application with the pear logo. According to the Tech Transparency Project's 2022 report, between 2019 and 2021, Apple filed more trademark infringement lawsuits than Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, and Google combined, even though these businesses are also Big Tech like "apple".
Source link
Comment (0)