- Apple has in recent years filed to trademark the image of a generic apple in black and white, having had success in a handful of countries.
- The company is trying to push for full trademark rights in Switzerland currently.
- Precisely why the company is pursuing this endeavour so fervently, remains unclear.
Intellectual property (IP) is a key aspect for any big tech company, with algorithms in particular being highly guarded secrets that often have as much value as the entity does.
While algorithms are not what govern Apple’s day-to-day, the Cupertino-based company is seemingly getting extremely litigious when it comes to the image of an apple, filing for a trademark in several countries to date.
As detailed in a story by Wired (paywall), Apple has been looking to gain intellectual property rights over the image of an apple for a number of years now, but it has hit a bit of a stumbling block in Switzerland.
This as the European nation has granted some rights to Apple when it comes to the depiction of the pome fruit, with an application having originally been submitted in 2017.
The Swiss Institute of Intellectual Property may have given some rights to trademark the image of a black and white granny smith apple, but it did still allow for some other generic images of apples to be allowed in marketing by Swiss companies as the fruit falls under public domain. That decision is set to be appealed by Apple, Wired notes, although the company is yet to come forward and officially comment on the matter.
To date, and according to the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) filings, Apple has successfully obtained rights in Japan, Turkey, Israel, and Armenia.
One Swiss company grappling with this ongoing legal IP battle is the Fruit Union Swisse, which features a red apple and white cross as its logo, mimicking that of the country’s official flag.
“We have a hard time understanding this, because it’s not like they’re trying to protect their bitten apple. Their objective here is really to own the rights to an actual apple, which, for us, is something that is really almost universal … that should be free for everyone to use,” Fruit Union Suisse director Jimmy Mariéthoz, told the publication.
While this trademark pursuit could simply be written off as Apple being Apple, it looks like there could be more nefarious implications should it continue to get its way in other countries. As The Transparency Project (TTP) reported last year, Apple is using this trademark to go after small businesses and non-profits, in cases that seemingly have no merit.
“For more than two years, a small design firm in Minneapolis (Paperapple) that sells greeting cards, custom stationery, and notebooks has been fighting a legal challenge from an unlikely foe: the world’s most valuable company, Apple,” the TTP highlighted.
“Their story is not unusual, according to a new investigation by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP). Apple has been targeting a range of small businesses and nonprofits across the country, often in unrelated fields, for potential trademark infringement. Among those targeted by Apple’s legal machine: an organization that supports families of children with autism, a school district in Appleton, Wisconsin, and an online test prep service for nursing students,” it added.
While it remains to be seen whether Switzerland’s IP regulators will fully acquiesce to Apple’s trademark demands, given the ubiquity of apples in human culture, even being significant in religions like christianity, giving a big tech company rights over the image of a fruit seems like an unnecessary move.
