back to article Swiss railways ticked off at iOS clock knock-off

As hipsters and tragics queue for new iPhones, Switzerland's railway operator, SBB, has complained that Cupertino copied its design for the clock display used in iOS6. Your rounded corners might not save you: SBB's railway clock (left) and Apple's iOS6 clock icon (right) While expressing "joy" that iOS6 uses what it …

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  1. Big-nosed Pengie
    Meh

    That looks like about 50% of the clocks I've ever seen.

    1. frank ly

      That was my first thought too but the second hand may be the deciding factor. It is very distinctive and you can't make a logical argument for it based on function. I think the big blob on the end looks silly, but that's just personal opinion.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. harmjschoonhoven

        @frank ly

        The big red blob on the end is there because swiss trains depart on time - sekundengenau.

        1. I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects

          Blanket eblank

          Not because it clobbered a cuckoo?

    2. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      Looks like average 50+ year old swiss clock

      If you take a swiss clock from 50+ years back second hand is nearly always red and blobbed at the end. Even Omega used to do them this way.

      These are the sole distinctive features - the rest is bog standard. So even if they had a trademark on it then, they have failed to defend it (as per trademark law) by chasing everyone and their dog in their _OWN_ country who did clocks to the same design.

      1. Danny 14

        Re: Looks like average 50+ year old swiss clock

        There is a difference between chasing and allowing. Perhaps they allowed the original "copiers" but havent allowed apple?

        1. DJ Smiley
          Facepalm

          Re: Looks like average 50+ year old swiss clock

          Allowing and not chasing means you've allowed your patent to lapse and therefore can't protect it.... which they may have done.

          We shall see.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Looks like average 50+ year old swiss clock

            Gentlemen,

            trademark ≠ patent

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Looks like average 50+ year old swiss clock

        No, It does look like the swiss one. Actually, the properly licenced swiss railways watch is not infrequently seen on Grauniad offers.

      3. Mad Chaz
        Childcatcher

        Re: Looks like average 50+ year old swiss clock

        Maybe it as to do with the innovative round corners?

        I don't want to live on this planet anymore ...

      4. I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects

        When the obvious is stated

        You obviously earn downvotes.

        Never mind I put one up you.

      5. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
        FAIL

        Re: Looks like average 50+ year old swiss clock

        So even if they had a trademark on it then, they have failed to defend it (as per trademark law) by chasing everyone and their dog in their _OWN_ country who did clocks to the same design.

        Is that how Swiss law works? Not having studied Swiss law, I have no idea. On the other hand, wouldn't it be nice if patent law worked the same way. That'd kill of a whole section of the patent trolls business model.

    3. Velv
      Flame

      Looks like a lot of clocks I've seen was my initial thought.

      But if SBB have the Trademark, I do hope they take Apple to court. Sause for the goose and all that. The Apple/Samsung lookylikey battle was stupid and this would highlight Apples ridiculous stance. (The Samsung looked like most other tablets I'd seen, and I'm writing this on my iPad so I'm not totally antiApple)

      1. TRT Silver badge

        It's similar but not the same.

        Look at the length of the minute hand relative to the fiducial marks, and the ratio of the second hand blob size to the length of the second hand.

        1. Steve Evans

          @TRT - was Re: It's similar but not the same.

          Similar but not the same... You mean like Samsung phones?

          Apple did rather open this Pandora's box, so this story does make me smile. The rash of over litigious companies is not good for progress, with lawyers (and BMW dealerships) coming out on top.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Next step...

    Apple have got this covered, first thing in the morning they will file a patent for 'time' and then they'll counter sue Switzerland for a billion army knives.

    1. cyke1

      Re: Next step...

      the Swiss company has the is trademarked so apple filing a patent is pointless

      1. Psyx
        WTF?

        Re: Next step...

        "the Swiss company has the is trademarked so apple filing a patent is pointless"

        I think you need your first coffee of the day.

    2. BongoJoe
      Coat

      Oh no

      ...as Roger Glover once wrote, "Swiss time was running out"

      1. Magnus_Pym

        Re: Oh no

        "Swiss time is running out."

        Are you suggesting that Apple are going to burn down the Swiss railways with a flare gun?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Oh no

          But I assume they'd be all for people "making records with a mobile"!

          1. TRT Silver badge

            Re: Oh no

            They will just make sure that you cannot find their stations. Ah, pre-emptive strike, perhaps? Apparently Apple have reopened Aldwych tube station, and moved it quarter of a mile.

            http://theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com/post/31926453993/apple-has-reopened-aldwych-underground-station

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Oh no

          "...some stupid with a flare gun...."

          If the description fits....

    3. Velv
      Coat

      Re: Next step...

      Didn't God invent the Apple? Isn't it just about one of the first things like, ever!

      I wonder when the Vatican is going to take legal action? I guess they've failed to enforce protection on the apple (or maybe they haven't ! )

      OR, perhaps it was truly given to the Son

      (Down vote in, 3,2,1...)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Next step...

        God may have invented the Apple, but it was 'Eve's job' to run with it and improve upon the concept (she contracted in a minion to take the now-famous-bite).

        Do you see what I did there....

    4. ScottAS2
      Trollface

      Re: Next step...

      Apple will countersue with their design patent on parallel lines.

      1. Peter 48
        Devil

        Re: Next step...

        Plus all those swiss rail toilet doors that have a slide to unlock latch are clearly in violation of Apple's patent. Not to mention the fact that every single one of their windows are rectangle's with rounded corners. The swiss don't stand a chance....

  3. Robert E A Harvey

    Copyright

    I've got a pocket watch based on the design which I bought at an SBB ticket office. They do guard the design very carefully, and I expect them to win this one. And so they should.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Copyright

      I expect Apple will say it's a fair request, negotiate hard over royalties and SBB will end up happy. Alternatively, they might change their name to Samsung and tell SBB to fuck off.

  4. Paul 135

    I love those SBB clocks, especially the way the seconds hand rotates continuously instead of moving in ticks.

    1. Velv
      Boffin

      The Swiss have saying about Trains

      "If the two o'clock train doesn't leave at two o'clock, it's either not a Swiss train or not a Swiss clock"

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Whereas if it does you can set your non-Swiss watch by it.

      2. Robert E A Harvey

        @Velv: The Swiss have saying about Trains

        True. Two illustrations.

        I was standing on the platform at Hardbrukke, on a frosty, foggy morning. The train was 45 seconds late and a chap started to have a panic attack. "Where is the train?"

        I was in Chur, and as people were getting off they were being given leaflets. The train had been 1 minute late 3 days running, and this was the explanation.

    2. ScottAS2
      Stop

      Do the SBB set new clocks by looking at the timetable?

      I love the way the second hand *doesn't* move continuously. Or at least, it does move continuously for fifty-eight and a half seconds, then it *stops*, and clicks up to the twelve o'clock position as the minute hand moves from one minute to another. If I had found a replica that duplicated that feature when I was in Switzerland, I'd have got it. As others have noted, you can buy souvenir SBB clocks all over the place, but they're usually just a cheap (by Swiss standards) movement with a ticking second hand.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Do the SBB set new clocks by looking at the timetable?

        "I love the way the second hand *doesn't* move continuously."

        Always been told the reason for this is that all the railway clocks were kept in sync by sending a sync pulse every minute ... so second hand mechanism was designed to be slightly fast to get to 59 secs and then wait for the sync pulse which marked the start of the next minute. That way all the clocks showed identical time apart from a possible very sligt variation in the second hand.

        1. TRT Silver badge

          Re: Do the SBB set new clocks by looking at the timetable?

          Re: Swiss Railway saying.

          But I need to travel at 3pm.

        2. Roger Kynaston
          Happy

          Re: Do the SBB set new clocks by looking at the timetable?

          Early ntp anyone? got to get the true geek element going after all.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Do the SBB set new clocks by looking at the timetable?

        Up until about the year 2000 the mechanical version of Mondaine's SBB watch did exactly that. They phased it out because the movement wasn't as reliable as normal ones.

    3. John Sager

      I wonder if the Apple one ticks? The other feature of SBB clocks is that the second hand takes about 59 seconds to do the sweep, then it stops, and the whole thing kicks off again with a pulse exactly on the minute. Has anyone been on a Swiss railway station in the early hours in March or October to see how they do the summer time adjustment?

      I thought about buying a Swiss-style clock once but they are horrendously expensive for what you get.

      1. Captain TickTock
        Trollface

        "they are horrendously expensive for what you get."

        quite ;-)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "they are horrendously expensive for what you get."

          Aha, another feature copied by Apple then.......

  5. Grikath
    Stop

    Ahhh...

    But did the Swiss think of filing for copyright *in the US* ?

    Because , you know....

    Other than that, I think yuo'll find that tons of station, bus stop, and wall clocks have a face like that, there's only so much you can do with a white background, black indicator stripes in a circle, and numerals.

    Unless you're willing to argue about tenths of millimeters and next-to-indistinguishable numeral fonts.

    1. Richard Appleby

      Re: Ahhh...

      See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_international_copyright_agreements

      And given that Apple seem to spend so much time suing other people over the general appearance of iThings, I suspect they'll find it hard to now argue that its not relevent in this case. What goes around, comes around.

      1. Kristian Walsh Silver badge

        Re: Ahhh...

        Well, the international agreement that covers copyright is the Berne Convention, named after the city of Berne in Switzerland

        (Granted, on iOS6 Maps, Berne may not actually be in Switzerland --- assuming that Switzerland is in Maps, of course)

    2. Dave 62

      Re: Ahhh...

      "there's only so much you can do with a white background, black indicator stripes in a circle, and numerals."

      and there's only so much you can do with a touch screen phone..

      rounded corners being an obvious necessity.

      but nice lack of basic comprehension of design.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple copying?!

    I'm shocked! Shocked I say!

    1. HollyHopDrive
      Coat

      Re: Apple copying?!

      To be fair to apple they haven't copied the Google maps application in their latest os, either visually or functionally. To be honest you could say they are redefining mapping that's been stuck in a rut of accuracy.... :-)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Apple copying?!

        I would love to see an Apple defence in court along the lines of:

        "See, we didn't copy Google Maps - our maps don't even work"

        Or:

        "In order to avoid copying Google Maps, we decided to move all the landmarks and towns around a bit."

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Joke

          Re: Apple copying?!

          I read that mapping companies frequently include imaginary streets on their maps so that people copying them can be easily seen to be doing so - maybe that was Apple's intention, but the 'make it up' algorithm got a bit out of hand.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Apple copying?!

          "'See, we didn't copy Google Maps'"

          Well, that much is true. They lifted mapping data off OSM[1]. Not that they bothered to acknowledge that much[2], but in a way it's a good thing they didn't, seeing how they have managed to mangle[3] the (old) data they used.

          [1] http://blog.osmfoundation.org/2012/03/08/welcome-apple/

          [2] http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/05/two-months-later-apple-acknowledges-use-of-openstreetmap-in-iphoto/

          [3] https://alastaira.wordpress.com/2012/03/08/apple-maps-aka-apple-are-thieving-bastards/

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Apple copying?!

      Apple is not making watches.

      1. DJ Smiley
        Facepalm

        Re: Apple copying?!

        Samsung aren't making iPhones...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Apple copying?!

          > Samsung aren't making iPhones...

          That's right they just make junk.

  7. Michael Thibault

    tick... tock...

    They don't look at all alike.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Excellent. Hoist and petard, come to mind. Not that you can hoist yourself on a petard; unless you're really quick.

    Mind you, they're quite small so hoisting could be accomplished with a reasonable amount of dispatch.

    1. Goat Jam
      Headmaster

      Pedantry Corner

      A petard is a small bomb used to blow open castle walls and gates.

      "hoist by your own petard" can be translated as, "blown upwards by your own bomb", and being "really quick" (to get away) is normally something you would require to avoid enduring such a humiliating situation.

      1. Steven Roper
        Headmaster

        Re: Pedantry Corner

        I was told as a kid that "hoist your own petard" meant something along the lines of "you can carry your own bloody bomb to the castle walls sunshine. You made it, you plant it!" - similar to "you made your own bed, you lie in it." It seems to be a similar but slightly different interpretation.

        1. BongoJoe

          Re: Pedantry Corner

          Indeed, but the hoisting was the part where the luckless sapper was flying through the air in, usually, a terminal and fragmented state.

        2. Goat Jam
          Pint

          Re: Pedantry Corner

          Interesting, I have never heard the phrase ""hoist your own petard" before.

          Often I hear "hoist on your own petard" which is, I think, where the confusion most people have regarding this phrase comes from. Basically they don't know what a petard is and assume it is something akin to a pike, or a spear and are visualising somebody being lifted up on the end of it.

          That is the only other variant I am familiar with.

          The context for both of these usages (the correct and incorrect one) is the same however. I is always in my experience used to describe a situation where an agressor has damaged themselves with their own weapon.

          I've never heard it in the context of "carrying your own weapon" though.

      2. Lockwood
        Trollface

        Re: Pedantry Corner

        A petard is a small bomb used to blow open castle walls and gates.

        "hoist by your own petard" can be translated as, "blown upwards by your own bomb", and being "really quick" (to get away) is normally something you would require to avoid enduring such a humiliating situation.

        Sticky Jumper?

  9. Thomas Gray

    Not on my iPhone

    Weird. The Clock icon on my iPhone 4S with iOS6 doesn't look like that - neither does the one on the iPhone 5 pictures on the Apple website. They look like the one in iOS5.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Re: Not on my iPhone

      If you read the Google translation apparently it's iOS 6 for iPad.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    The train is upset

    v.g.

  11. John Tserkezis
    Thumb Down

    You are mistaken.

    Rule Number One: Apple owns the patent to that clock design.

    If in doubt, refer to rule number one.

  12. Steve Todd
    Stop

    Are they going to sue over these (real) clocks also?

    http://www.exetercameraclub.co.uk/photo_5567261.html

    The icon in question is only used on the iPad BTW

    1. Richard 12 Silver badge

      Re: Are they going to sue over these (real) clocks also?

      I would think Canary Wharf bought the right to use that design, or even the clocks themselves, from SBB, the same way anyone can buy an SBB-styled watch.

      The complaint here is that Apple ripped off a trademarked design without permission. Trademarks begging what they are, SBB is obligated to defend it and ask for compensation.

      According to Apple, well over $1 billion would be fair...

      1. Steve Todd
        Stop

        Re: Are they going to sue over these (real) clocks also?

        For the Fandroids and hard of thinking, the point is that this design is very little different from many other clock faces (take a look at the face of a Rolex sometime). If Apple are infringing a trademark and SBB inform them then they have three options : 1) Apologise and change the icons (not hard), 2) come to a license agreement (this could be as little as simply acknowledging the trademark) or 3) fight it in court. There's no up side for Apple to use option 3.

        What cost Samsung the money was going for option 3 over 7 patents and 28 devices. One design and 2 devices would cost Apple money if they lost, but nowhere near the $1bn amount. There is no advantage in continuing to use the icon in the face of legal opposition though. The cost of legal fees would far outstrip the cost of the redesign and the image used isn't key functionality.

    2. Timmy B

      Re: Are they going to sue over these (real) clocks also?

      nope. Look at the picture. There is a number on each face showing. The one in question and the rip off (sure Apple will argue that one - prior art not mattering of course) don't have this.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Are they going to sue over these (real) clocks also?

        Timmy, I'm not a judge but I can't really imagine the number makes that much of a difference since the all other design aspects are similar. Just slapping a number in there doesn't it make it sufficiently different.

        Not sure why Apple hasn't done so but it's possible they didn't think they'd need it since they're not actually making clocks, only computer representations of them. I'm also not sure what kind of protection the SBB has on the clocks, the reports mention trademark but that has many specifics regarding fields of use.

        Registered designs (aka design patents) are another option however those "only" last 25 years, so not a possibility in this case.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          only computer representations of them

          So why should anybody pay Apple for, ooh lets say, slide to unlock. After all it's only a computer representation of a sliding bolt that has been used for centuries.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Facepalm

            Re: only computer representations of them

            >After all it's only a computer representation of a sliding bolt that has been used for centuries.

            Because Apple patented the working of a computer representation (and even then only on touchscreens), not actual sliding bolts.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: only computer representations of them

              Apple should have been denied the patent...

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: only computer representations of them

            Sliding bolt analogy, I would have used that first as prior art, although I suspect US judges would say doing it on a mobile is patentable...

    3. VinceH
      Facepalm

      Re: Are they going to sue over these (real) clocks also?

      "The icon in question is only used on the iPad BTW"

      Oh, that's alright, then.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What could happen...

    The issue at stake here is trademark. Not copyright, not patents. By using an image that is a registered trade mark, creates an association between where the image is used and the company that owns the trade mark.

    Whilst I'm not a lawyer, the possible outcomes are:

    1. Apple does not distribute iOS6 into any country which has this trademark registered / respected.

    2. Apple changes the image used.

    3. Apple wins at court based on that the images are significantly different.

    4. Apple licenses its use, and brands its time keeping as provided by the swiss train company.

    As switzerland is particularly agressive about trade marks, and passing off issues (fake designer goods do get siezed by customs in swizterland from people visiting the country, not just commercial imports), option 1 would make me nervous to take an apple product there.

  14. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    German railway clocks use(d) a similar design

    But from memory, the second hand takes rather less than a minute to get around to 59, then hangs around a couple of seconds until the next minute pulse arrives. It's really quite fascinating to watch...

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If the shoe was on the other foot...

    and SSB started using a bitten apple as it's logo, I'm sure we'd see instant legal action from the fruity ones.

    So play on, SSB!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: If the shoe was on the other foot...

      The Schweizerische Bundesbahnen is already very litigious, no need to further prod them on.

      Couple of years ago they took on a UK company I worked with, over the SBB.COM domain. (the UK company's name also spelled SBB)

      Schweizerische Bundesbahnen lost.

  16. Keith 21

    Something fishy here...

    My clock icon on my iOS 6 iPhone looks absolutely nothing like the one claimed in the article.

    Sounds like someone made up a pack of lies to get some exposure.

    Another clickbait Reg article?

    1. Alister
      FAIL

      Re: Something fishy here...

      You did read the article, then?

      It's the iPad version of IOS6 that uses this clock.

  17. Captain Hogwash
    Trollface

    hipsters and tragics

    There's a difference?

  18. Peter Ford
    FAIL

    It's clearly different - no case here!

    The minute and hour hands on the Apple version are rectangular against SBB's trapezoidal. The Apple minute hand doesn't reach the tick marks, while the SBB one sweeps over the ticks. The blob on the end of the Apple clock is rectangular against round on the SBB clock.

    Distinctions of this sort would be enough to identify font designs, so why not a clock?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It's clearly different - no case here!

      One of Apples "complaints" against Samsung was that the phone app used a handset as its icon ... think their arguments was simply changing from a dialpad icon to a handset was evidence of copying.

    2. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge

      Re: It's clearly different - no case here!

      There are a lot of differences when one looks at it but I can understand some wanting Apple to get a taste of her own medicine. Apple only won outright in an American court; the Swiss would likely lose in any.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple will sue the Swiss

    ....in California, and win of course.

    An interesting fact about the Swiss clock is that the second hand goes round in 58 seconds and stops, giving 2 seconds for the guard to blow his whistle. That is cool.

  20. ~mico
    Coffee/keyboard

    Hahaha, oh, wow...

    Apple, so protective over its design patents... now it owes me a keyboard.

  21. Only me!
    Trollface

    Rounded Corners

    Ok I have said it....the Apple clock has rounded corners, so it must be theirs and they will sue because the Swiss have copied them by "Extending" the rounded corners in to a circle!

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ElReg

    What's special with the original design is that the second hand is running a little too fast and has to pause for a second at the top, symbolising a conductor's use of a signalling disc.

    On the following page, click on "SBB Widgets" on the bottom and then "SBB Clock" there (Flash):

    http://www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holidays/allgemeine-informationen/wallpaper-en/sbb-uhr.html

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: ElReg

      Then you click on 'Screensaver SBB clock Mac OS X Widget' and you find...

      'New in v1.9: Recrafted the design of the clock with the valued help of Kevin to more closely resemble the iPhone iApp.'

      Oops.

  23. JL1155
    Happy

    Die Bahn ist verärgert.

    The train is upset.

  24. ukgnome

    Google translation chosen to make it even funnier

    You never read "apple translation chosen to make it funnier"

    Apple are missing a trick - soon they will sue for unfair advertising or summink

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Looks like the clock at the local swimming baths too.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    1944 - yes almost 70 years ago... it's not even the same...

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Looks like a lot of clocks I have seen - do swiss railways really need the publicity?

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yes, apple do pay us to astroturf! It's quite lucrative actually....

  29. Jon Double Nice

    But shirley

    Apple will just patent this clock design..... 'on a phone'.

  30. Simon B
    Flame

    do as apple say not as they do. They'll stick 2 fingers up, brign in the big guns, get away with it, and carry on. Wankers.

  31. dirk_diggler
    WTF?

    Slightly Pointless Story About Apple

    Surely no-one still uses this shit?

  32. Eddie Edwards
    Pint

    Did they copy the way they animate?

    Swiss railway clocks are *weird*. The second hand goes around until it reaches 12, but it seems to reach 12 too early, so it pauses - for 1 or 2 seconds - then the minute hand moves and the second hand starts off again. I'm imagining a Helvetica-wide pulse is sent to all the clocks in the country to say "now it's the next minute", so they all keep perfect time to minute accuracy.

    Oddly the exact behaviour is reproduced on the digital clock images in the on-screen passenger information display. I guess the Swiss are used to it.

    Also oddly, the trains in Switzerland usually arrive exactly when they're supposed to. I can get used to the clocks but this scheduling behaviour is just freakish.

  33. Sean Baggaley 1

    Hmm. It does look too similar to be a coincidence.

    But... I don't think Apple's designers and managers are idiots. As with the "iPhone" trademark, I suspect they felt it would cost less to let SBB contact them if there was a trademark involved and set their price (although how you "trademark" a machine's user interface I've no idea; trademarks are usually static images).

    I also can't help noticing a pattern emerging here. I wonder if SBB said "No," knowing full well that they'd get a ton of free publicity by doing so and demanding Apple pay them on their own terms. (And by "their own terms", I suspect they first had some meetings with Apple's people to decide what those terms would be.)

    Whatever you may think of Apple, "incompetent" isn't a term you can apply to their management team. There's more to this than meets the eye.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Call on William Tell

    Job's ghost (Steve Cook) should be made to stand with an Apple on his head. Tell should have one free shot. Let's hope he doesn't take Cook's iOut.

  35. This post has been deleted by its author

  36. mhenriday
    Trollface

    Richard, you must have messed up that quote from John Lindsay :

    here's the fix : «Move yr business to where Apple says it is. That's the Apple way. Or we'll sue u in our hometown court.»

    Henri

  37. Lockwood

    Pending lawsuit

    When will SBB get sued for modeling their clocks after the iOS icon?

  38. This post has been deleted by its author

  39. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    The trademark on the clock expired on the 2nd of this month.

    https://www.swissreg.ch/srclient/faces/jsp/trademark/sr30.jsp

    1. G2
      WTF?

      Re: The trademark on the clock expired [...] this month.

      they might be in the process of renewing it, so the renewal won't show up yet.

      if you look at the status it does say it's an ACTIVE trademark, so SBB might have a grace period to renew the mark

      Status Active trademark

      Trademark no. 512830

      Filing date 03.09.2002

      Expiry date 03.09.2012

      Source of first publication SOGC no.145 to 31.07.2003

      Application no. 07606/2002

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Station Clock Demos

    A nice page about the clock designs, with

    configurable clock and JavaScript code:

    http://3quarks.com/en/StationClock/

  41. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Close ... but this is BLATANT

    Braun's ET22 calculator was (and I choose my words carefully) blatantly ripped off on the first iPhone OS - it was rapidly changed when they got a stiff telling off from das legaldepartment, but they still use a design closely based on it.

    However, it's not all Apple stealing from others: I've got a leather writing set and a wooden magazine rack that TOTALLY rip off Apples unique design style.

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