“Swatch Group AG, the world’s biggest watchmaker, said it has taken action against Apple Inc. (AAPL) over the most valuable technology company’s use of the iWatch label, which it says is too similar to its own iSwatch product,” Jan Schwalbe reports for Bloomberg.
“Swatch’s measures include pointing out the use of “iWatch” to authorities in all the countries where it has been registered as a trademark, Swatch Chief Executive Officer Nick Hayek said in a telephone interview yesterday. He didn’t say which countries had been contacted and when the measures started, adding there are no plans to take Apple to court,” Schwalbe reports. “‘This is the normal procedure to protect your own brand name,” Hayek said. “We react like this for all other brand names that we have protected.'”
“Cupertino, California-based Apple hasn’t yet disclosed any specifics for an Internet-connected wristwatch. Swatch Group, with headquarters in Biel, Switzerland, sells a digital-display model called iSwatch,” Schwalbe reports. “Apple may be looking to make inroads on that brand name because the two are too similar, Hayek said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple doesn’t need help from any brand in the world, much less Swatch, when it comes to branding. This Hayek joker sounds delusional – and quite nervous, as well he should be.
Schwalbe reports, “Swatch has registered the iSwatch name in several dozen countries and wants to protect it, according to Hayek.”
MacDailyNews Take: Gee, where’d Swatch get the “i” idea? What a mystery! By the way, the “iSwatch” trademark was filed on April 7, 2008 or 9 years, 7 months, and 24 days after Apple’s release of iMac.
Schwalbe reports, “Apple last year applied for trade mark protection for an “iWatch” in Japan, according to a June 3 filing with the Japan Patent Office. More than 50 companies have filed for trademark protection for the iWatch name, according to a search on the World Intellectual Property Organization website. Watson.ch reported ‘iWatch’ was granted protection on April 1 in Monaco, while authorities in Iceland issued a preliminary rejection, citing its similarity to iSwatch.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Swatch should enjoy the “world’s biggest watchmaker” sobriquet. No telling how long that’ll last. 😉
