The Fruit Union Suisse, the oldest and largest fruit farmer’s organization in Switzerland, has used a red apple with a white cross as its logo for most of its 111-year history. However, the group is now worried that it may have to change its logo because Apple, the tech giant, is trying to gain intellectual property rights over depictions of apples, the fruit, that it perceives as infringements on its trademarks.
“We have a hard time understanding this, because it’s not like they’re trying to protect their bitten apple,” Fruit Union Suisse director Jimmy Mariéthoz says, referring to the company’s iconic logo. “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.”
While the case has left Swiss fruit growers puzzled, it’s part of a global trend. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s records, Apple has made similar requests to dozens of IP authorities around the world, with varying degrees of success. Authorities in Japan, Turkey, Israel, and Armenia have acquiesced…
Mariéthoz says that the Fruit Union is concerned because there is no clarity on what uses of the apple shape Apple will try to protect and because the company has been very aggressive in pursuing things that it perceives as infringements on its trademarks. “We’re concerned that any visual representation of an apple—so anything that’s audiovisual or linked to new technologies or to media—could be potentially impacted. That would be a very, very big restriction for us,” he said.
MacDailyNews Take: The Apple logo is a registered trademark (®). The United States Patent and Trademark Office’s “Maintaining a Federal Trademark Registration” document explicitly states: “Throughout the life of the registration, you must police and enforce your rights.”
In fact, in 2012, Apple filed to protect by trademark the Apple logo’s leaf – yes, just the leaf.
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The post Apple, the company, looks to secure rights to the image of apples, the fruit, in Switzerland appeared first on MacDailyNews.
