“Switzerland’s Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, or Swiss Federal Railway service, has accused Apple of using their iconic clock in its Clock app for iPad without permission, according to a report in the Swiss newspaper Blick,” Jordan Golson reports for MacRumors.
“The clock, designed by Hans Hilfiker, has become an icon of both the Swiss railway and of Switzerland itself. The trademark and copyright for the clock is owned by the Swiss Federal Railways service,” Golson reports.
According to [a Tages-Anzeiger] article: SBB is the sole owner of the trademark and copyright of the railway clock. The railway company will now get in touch with Apple. The aim is a legal, as well as a financial solution. It is not right that one [Apple] simply copies the design.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Bad form, Apple. Microsoftian cum Samungish.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Joe Architect” for the heads up.]
Different line weight
Yeah, it looks like they copied it, but…
Numberless clock faces have come and gone… and come and gone as far back as I can recall… and that’s just within my lifetime. I think I’ve seen numberless clock faces on clocks from the 30s, 20s and earlier
Does the Swiss Railways copyright/trademark go back that far? If so, it certainly ought to have expired by now.
I’m not sure how this counts as iconic, let alone how Swiss Railways got a copyright/trademark for it regardless of who “designed” it. It looks like a universal symbol representing a clock. This “design” is the essence of what can visually represent a clock. You couldn’t make it much simpler.
It’s an icon (symbol) for a clock. IMO (as a designer), there shouldn’t be a copyright for that.
The only topological difference that I can see is the fact that the red hand doesn’t extend beyond the red circle.
I’d be surprised if there were no prior art in the public domain that predates the Swiss Railways.
I love apple and support it all the way, but with this one i say pay the Swiss Railway and get a proper license please. This is precisely the things apples coppiers with jump to for a cheap laugh
So… which way is the second hand pointing?
Conclusion: The Apple copying of the SFR clock was not run by Apple Legal before public release. OOPS. They were busy fighting off blatant plagiarists of Apple IP in court.
Like I say, Apple is never perfect. They just do it better than everyone else. And occasionally that includes blunders.
Hey Paid-Samsung-Trolls and Apple Fanboy haters: Don’t you wish you could think for yourself as well? Keep trying.
Well, colour me surprised, I didn’t even know there was an official Apple clock app for the iPad! TBH, if they just knocked the dot off the end of the second hand it would solve the problem, and, frankly, look better as a result.
In my humble opinion, of course…
Does the lack of a chrome rim mean that the “skeuomorphism is evil” crowd will leave this alone?
Its pretty clear they ripped it off, the appearance and intent is there. This is not the firsts time Apple has taken liberties with others works and I suspect it won’t be the last time either.
Apple should have known better after their victory that any attempt to take another’s IP would bring the wrong kind of attention. Pay up and/or remove the infringing clock from iOS.
That’s interesting. The Clock on my iPhone has no red dot on the second hand, and no, my iPhone is not jail broken. So what the hell are these idiots talking about?