ETtechApple is looking to “own the rights to an actual apple”, according to a Swiss fruit firm. The tech giant is likely to force a 111-year-old fruit farmers’ organisation, called Fruit Union Suisse, to change its official logo.
Currently, the Swiss Fruit Union’s logo is a red apple with a white cross on it. However, Apple may force the company to change it, according to a news report by Wired.
"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," the report quoted Fruit Union Suisse director Jimmy Mariethoz as saying.
This is not the first time Apple has gone after a company for using a fruit logo.
The tech giant tried to secure a trademark in Switzerland in 2017. Apple submitted an application before the Swiss Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) for IP rights over a realistic, black-and-white depiction of an apple variety called Granny Smith, or green apple. The IPI granted Apple partial rights.
Apple also objected to an orange logo used by a start-up named Citrus. In 2020, it settled a dispute with a meal-planning app called Prepear after the app’s creator agreed to change a leaf on its pear logo. Apple had argued that the logo bore similarities to its half-bitten apple logo.
According to an investigation by the Tech Transparency Project, a nonprofit watchdog, between 2019 and 2021, Apple tried to enforce its IP rights over other companies more than Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft combined.
The report said Apple filed 215 trademark oppositions to defend its logo, name or product titles. That’s more than the estimated 136 trademark oppositions that Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Google collectively filed in the same period, the group said.
Between 2019 and 2021, 37 entities withdrew their trademark applications, and another 127 individuals or organisations did not reply to challenges and defaulted, a New York Times report said, citing data from the Tech Transparency Project.
Currently, the Swiss Fruit Union’s logo is a red apple with a white cross on it. However, Apple may force the company to change it, according to a news report by Wired.
Fruit Union Suisse said Apple is not just contesting its trademark apple logo, but also wants to get exclusive rights to all depictions of actual apples.
"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," the report quoted Fruit Union Suisse director Jimmy Mariethoz as saying.
This is not the first time Apple has gone after a company for using a fruit logo.
The tech giant tried to secure a trademark in Switzerland in 2017. Apple submitted an application before the Swiss Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) for IP rights over a realistic, black-and-white depiction of an apple variety called Granny Smith, or green apple. The IPI granted Apple partial rights.
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Apple also objected to an orange logo used by a start-up named Citrus. In 2020, it settled a dispute with a meal-planning app called Prepear after the app’s creator agreed to change a leaf on its pear logo. Apple had argued that the logo bore similarities to its half-bitten apple logo.
According to an investigation by the Tech Transparency Project, a nonprofit watchdog, between 2019 and 2021, Apple tried to enforce its IP rights over other companies more than Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft combined.
The report said Apple filed 215 trademark oppositions to defend its logo, name or product titles. That’s more than the estimated 136 trademark oppositions that Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Google collectively filed in the same period, the group said.
Between 2019 and 2021, 37 entities withdrew their trademark applications, and another 127 individuals or organisations did not reply to challenges and defaulted, a New York Times report said, citing data from the Tech Transparency Project.
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