Apple has been trying to get exclusive rights to all sorts of apple logos for some time now, not just the cropped version, and it’s not just about the tech stuff. If successful, many companies could lose their logos, even those that have been around for much longer than the tech giant.
Apple is no stranger to fruit lawsuits, but the company’s latest plan looks as bizarre as ever. The iPhone maker is currently in Switzerland and is trying to obtain intellectual property rights to images of real apples.
“It is difficult for us to understand this, because it is no longer about their desire to protect their apples that have been bitten,” said Fruit Union Suisse director Jimmy Mariétoz.
“Their goal here is really to own the rights to the actual apple, which is almost universal to us…and everyone should be free to use it.”
Fruit Union Suisse is a Swiss organization founded 111 years ago that unites local apple growers, and it is not surprising that its logo depicts an apple:
If Apple succeeds, Fruit Union Suisse (and many other companies) may have to change their logo to one that does not contain an apple at all.
the Wired He points out that Apple first attempted to trademark the fruit in Switzerland in 2017, when it applied for a black-and-white photograph of a Granny Smith apple. He asked for a picture of a whole apple, not an apple he was familiar with.
The country’s Intellectual Property Law Institute partially approved Apple’s request last month, but only for certain product categories. The institute cited a legal principle declaring that public images of known goods are in the public domain. Apple appealed the decision in April 2023.
This isn’t the first time big tech companies have attempted to trademark generic terms or goods. However, according to a study by the Technology Transparency Project, Apple filed more trademark oppositions in three years than Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Facebook combined.
via AndroidAuthority
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