Apple watches are displayed following an Apple event
March 9, 2015. REUTERS
Posted on 04/04/2015 4:20:57 PM PDT by Swordmaker
ZURICH (Reuters) - Apple is not able to launch its new smartwatch in Switzerland until at least the end of this year because of an intellectual property rights issue, Swiss broadcaster RTS reported on its website.
The U.S. tech giant cannot use the image of an apple nor the word "apple" to launch its watch within Switzerland, the home of luxury watches, because of a patent from 1985, RTS reported, citing a document from the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property.
The document, reprinted on the RTS website, was published by trade magazine Business Montres & Joaillerie, RTS said.
The patent is set to finish on Dec. 5 of this year. It currently belongs to William Longe, who owns watch brand Leonard that first filed the patent.
Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property could not immediately be reached outside of normal business hours.
The Apple Watch, the firm's first new device since Tim Cook became CEO, will be available in stores in nine countries on April 24.
The world's largest watchmaker Swatch unveiled its riposte to Apple's smartwatch last month, announcing a plan to put cheap programmable chips in watches that will let wearers from China to Chicago make payments with a swipe of the wrist.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
A patent on what? They don’t seem to say.
Apple owes its survival to patent trolling. Karma’s a bitch.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Not true.
The patent is set to finish on Dec. 5 of this year. It currently belongs to William Longe, who owns watch brand Leonard that first filed the patent.
this is as far as i got with Leonard timepieces as their website is kapoot
http://www.swisstime.ch/en-LEONARD-m57.html
I’m sorry but I find it difficult to sympathize with an outfit that would file a lawsuit over a picture of a trash can.
The crazy thing is, that Swiss TV watch shows just one show — it is in 3D — consisting of a bunch of medieval-looking characters wandering around in an ethnic firedrill configuration. ;’)
I don’t know what royalties are like in Switzerland, but Apple could always make patent owner an offer to compensate for projected losses.
And that shows YOU haven't a clue about what you are talking about. . . and here I thought you were going to go on and on about black rectangles and rounded corners.
Apple sued Microsoft for stealing the entire look and feel and copyrights of their GUI. The TrashCan icon was the ONLY thing the judge correctly ruled was infringed. The judge ruled that an agreement to allow Microsoft to use some of Apple intellectual GUI property for Windows 1.0 with a TIME LIMIT did not actually have a time limit and was good for all versions of Windows, and all parts of Apple's GUI. However, the trashcan was a copyrightable image and was not covered. Ergo, Microsoft changed it enough and renamed it to the Recycle Bin.
In 1997, Apple and Microsoft settled a separate patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft with a set of three interlocking agreements which included Microsoft giving Apple $150 million for non-voting preferred stock, granting Apple an unlimited lifetime license to Microsoft's intellectual property for free, agreement to re-start the Microsoft Office for Mac which they had discontinued and to guarantee development of it for five years, and license the in-suit IP for the next five years for an undisclosed amount.
For it's part, Apple had to print a $2 dollar stock certificate, include Microsoft Internet Explorer along with Netscape Navigator with all new Macs, license the in-suit patents and copyrights to Microsoft for five years for undisclosed royalties, and dismiss the current lawsuit and agree that this settled all IP disputes then present between the two companies.
A patent on being a homo, according to Tim Cook.
Look and feel is for homos.
You are absolutely right. . . Look and feel is for homo sapiens sapiens.
. . . the human species who needed a well designed GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE.
The homos at Apple are obsessed with look and feel because that's what being homo is all about... aside from packing fudge.
I know a lot of guys who like the “look and feel” of women! ... LOL ...
Sorry to hear you missed out on all the fun! ... :-) ...
I guess that means you live in a crappy looking house, drive a piece of junk, and I hate to think what your woman looks like! ... LOL ...
Ummm ... you’re saying Switzerland is a homo-country?! ... LOL ...
Better than your man.
This is second time Apple Inc. has had
patent problems in Switzerland.Timmy is not doing a very good job as CEO.
No, the last time was a TradeMark issue with the Swiss Train System claiming they had Trademarked the look of their National Train Station CLOCK. It seems one of the App Makers for the Apple App store had made a clock face for a clock app that looked too much like the Swiss National Train System's Train Station's Clock Face and they sent a "Cease and Desist" letter to Apple.
Timmy is not doing a very good job as CEO.
At the time the Trademark issue occurred, Steve Jobs was CEO of Apple, not Tim Cook. As for Cook not doing a good job, under Tim Cook's guidance, Apple has been both Acting CEO and the actual CEO while Apple has become the largest by market capitalization corporation in the world by more than two time over above the next largest company, Exxon Mobile. It isn't even close. That was Cook's doing. . . and you say he is not doing a good Job as CEO? You dod not know what you are talking about. Is he making some serious mistakes now? You bet he is. . . getting involved in social issues that Apple should never be involved in because he has his personal lifestyle he chooses to live he wants to force down everyone else's throats. (literally?). . . but that has nothing to do with this.
The patent in this article is not even RELATED to smart watches or even computers. This is because the Swiss Watch industries is scared witless about their market. Perhaps you might guess from the Swiss Train Clock Face issue and this Watch TV issue, that is apparently because they are assuming that the Apple Watch will show TV images on it, that the Swiss are VERY concerned with anything that has to do with time pieces. Their national industrial pride.
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