Apple puts money where its mouth is, pays for Swiss railway clock design
But details of the agreement were not made public.
by Chris Foresman - Oct 12 2012, 12:15pm EDT
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IOS APPS
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The iPad's new Clock app uses the same sweeping red second hand as SBB's
iconic railway clocks.
Apple has officially reached a licensing agreement with Swiss Federal
Railway (Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, or SBB) to continue to use the design
of its iconic station clocks for the iPad's Clock app. How much Apple is
paying to use the design is unknown, however, as both parties have agreed to
keep the terms of the deal private.
Apple's designers apparently liked the iconic Swiss railway clock so much—
with its sweeping red second hand that looks like a railway signal flag—
that it essentially copied the design for the iPad's new Clock app,
introduced in iOS 6. However, SBB noted shortly after the release of iOS 6
in September that the clock design, an icon of SSB and Switzerland itself,
was copyrighted and trademarked.
An SBB spokesperson said that the iPad Clock app was "an unauthorized use [
of the clock's design] by Apple," and that it was contacting Apple to work
out a "legal and financial" resolution to the issue. The SBB later clarified
that it was "rather proud that a brand as important as Apple is using our
design," and that it wasn't necessarily demanding money for use of the
design. It's worth noting that SBB does license the clock's design around
the world, perhaps most famously to watchmaker Mondaine, so we suspect Apple
did in fact pay for use of the design.
The SBB railway clock was originally designed in 1944 by engineer and
designer Hans Hilfike. SBB said in a statement that the design has become "a
symbol of innovation and reliability," qualities it believes are shared by
both SBB and Switzerland.
