Quote
What a clockup! Apple's Swiss clock knock-off clocks up $21m fine
Swiss railways laughing all the way to the Swiss bank
By Anna Leach • In Law • At 16:29 GMT 12th November 2012
Apple has paid 20m Swiss francs (£13m, $21m) to Switzerland's national railway operator, which holds the rights to the distinctive clock-face design used in the new iPad.
Last month Apple agreed to shell out for a licence, but the multi-million-dollar cost only emerged yesterday in a report by Swiss paper Tages-Anzeiger.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fregmedia.co.uk%2F2012%2F10%2F12%2Fswiss_ios_clock.jpg&hash=73f04977d70b60a2791de070360a809104099776)
The clock in question: Apple's version, left; the Swiss railway version, right
The Cupertino giant tweaked the look of clock faces shown on iPads powered by iOS 6 by taking out the numbers, adding little black markers and putting a ball at the end of the second hand - a move that's left Apple rummaging its pockets for spare change.
:nelson:
rest of item here:
http://m.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/12/apple_payout_swiss_railways/
Whereas if it was Microsoft, the EU would have hit them with a billion-dollar fine.
Europe is crooked.
:lol: Good for Mondaine.
How the hell they thought they could get away with that one, with one of the most recognized clock faces in Western Civilization. Oh, I know how: they're Apple, and think they can get away with anything.
$21M is chump change, though.
Yeah, since Apple is a bunch of piece-of-shit patent-campers, they should have known that everything is patented in this day and age.
Quote from: Neil on November 12, 2012, 11:01:27 PM
Whereas if it was Microsoft, the EU would have hit them with a billion-dollar fine.
Europe is crooked.
Switzerland is not in the EU. :secret:
Quote from: Syt on November 12, 2012, 11:49:29 PM
Quote from: Neil on November 12, 2012, 11:01:27 PM
Whereas if it was Microsoft, the EU would have hit them with a billion-dollar fine.
Europe is crooked.
Switzerland is not in the EU. :secret:
Doesn't matter. Every European country is still bad.
Damn, every since reading this, I really want one of these Mondaine watches. :mad: