In the event it does, it could have widespread repercussions on many industries beyond the tech world. Whether Apple has a chance of winning its legal battle remains to be seen. Since the court proceedings are still pending and require consent from Apple, the IPI couldn’t disclose details of its request but includes common uses such as audiovisual footage “meant for television and other transmission.”įurther, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s records, similar requests have been made to dozens of IP authorities around the world, with authorities in Japan, Turkey, Israel, and Armenia complying with the request. It applied for an entire apple image rather than its trademark apple with a bite.Īpple also submitted an extensive list of potential uses, mostly centered on electronic, digital, and audiovisual consumer goods and hardware.įollowing a prolonged back-and-forth between both parties, the IPI partially granted Apple’s trademark request, “saying that Apple could have rights relating to only some of the goods it wanted, citing a legal principle that considers generic images of common goods-like apples-to be in the public domain.” However, in April 2023, Apple filed an appeal against the decision to win the rest of the rights.
Theoretically, we could be entering slippery territory everytime we advertise with an apple,” Mariéthoz continued.Īpple first tried to protect the fruit trademark in Switzerland in 2017, wherein the Cupertino giant submitted an application to the Swiss Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) requesting the IP rights for a realistic, black-and-white illustration of a Granny Smith apple. That would be a very, very big restriction for us. “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. Mariéthoz also added that there is no clarity on what uses of the apple shape Apple will try to protect.
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,” Jimmy Mariéthoz, Director of Fruit Union Suisse, told Wired, referring to the company’s iconic logo. “We have a hard time understanding this, because it’s not like they’re trying to protect their bitten apple. For most of its history, Fruit Union Suisse has represented itself with a red apple logo along with a white cross - the Swiss national flag placed over one of its most common fruits.
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