A Swiss court has ruled in favour of watchmaker Swatch in an intellectual property dispute with Apple. The United States technology giant had complained that Swatch had ripped off its marketing slogan “Think Different”.
Apple took exception when SwatchExternal link, the largest watch producer in Switzerland, coined the term “Tick Different”. But the Federal Administrative Court has rejected the complaint, ruling that Apple’s advertising campaign slogan was not sufficiently well known in Switzerland to allow the US company to force Swatch to revoke its similar title.
“This means that the case must be dismissed,” the court said in its ruling published on Tuesday.
This is not the first time that Apple has duelled with Swiss firms over the issue of intellectual property rights. In 2012 Swiss Federal Railways complained that Apple had infringed its patent rights on its iconic Swiss clock design that hangs in stations throughout the country.
Swatch reported net sales growth of 6.1% last year to CHF8.5 billion ($8.5 billion) with net profits rising nearly 15% to CHF867 million. But the annual figures were below the expectations of analysts who warn that the company’s sales this year could be hit by a downturn in the Chinese economy.
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Swiss Railways clocks up agreement with Apple
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“The parties have agreed that the amount of the licensing fee and any further details on the licencing arrangement will remain confidential,” said railway spokeswoman Lea Meyer in a statement published on the company’s website on Friday. The railway clock was created in 1944 by Swiss electrical engineer and designer Hans Hilfiker. The red second…
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The clock was the subject of a patent dispute which the railways settled with Apple in October 2012 for a widely reported but unofficial sum of CHF20 million ($21.5 million). Details of the arrangement remained otherwise confidential. Apple had used the Swiss station clock design without permission for its mobile operating system iOS6, released in…
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