Last Updated: June 20, 2023, 18:50 IST
Cupertino, California, USA
The firm needs to turn out to be the proprietor of the actual Apple brand
The firm tends to file for various IP rights usually however even then this new case may be very attention-grabbing.
Apple is reportedly attempting to realize mental property (IP) rights over depictions of apples, the fruit, which has left a fruit farmer’s organisation in Switzerland anxious.
According to a report in Wired, the Fruit Union, the oldest and largest fruit farmers’ organisation in Switzerland, is worried that it might have to vary its brand as a result of the iPhone maker is trying to safe IP rights for “a practical, black-and-white depiction of an apple selection generally known as the Granny Smith”.
“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,” Fruit Union Suisse director Jimmy Mariethoz was quoted as saying.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s data, Apple has made comparable requests to dozens of IP authorities round the world.
Authorities in Japan, Turkey, Israel, and Armenia have already accepted their destiny, albeit reluctantly.
“Apple’s quest to personal the IP rights of one thing as generic as a fruit speaks to the dynamics of a flourishing international IP rights business, which inspires corporations to compete obsessively over emblems they don’t actually need,” the report noted.
The tech giant had submitted an application to the Swiss Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) in 2017, requesting the IP rights for a realistic, black-and-white depiction of an apple variety known as the Granny Smith — the generic green apple.
“The request covered an extensive list of potential uses — “mostly on electronic, digital, and audiovisual consumer goods and hardware,” in keeping with the report.
The Swiss institute partially granted Apple’s request final yr, saying that Apple might have rights referring to solely a few of the items it needed. Apple later filed an attraction.
According to the Fruit Union, there is no such thing as a readability on what makes use of of the apple form Apple will attempt to shield.
“We’re involved that any visible illustration of an apple — so something that’s audiovisual or linked to new applied sciences or to media — may very well be doubtlessly impacted. That can be a really, very massive restriction for us,” Mariethoz was quoted as saying.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – IANS)
