Apple Reportedly Paid $21 Million for Rights to Swiss Railways Clock Design

[Rockoar]

Are they not paying what "you" deem their fair share, or what they are legally obligated to pay. I am sure your friends at Google don't pay more in taxes than they have to.

Everyone knows big companies are the big tax evaders and not small businesses. We are talking Apple here, no need to bring up Google. Why is the european siege of Apple locate in Luxembourg? because that way they pay next to nothing in taxes in comparison with what they could be paying in other countries. Free market ****, I know, but we as citizens are the only losers.

 

[harpster]

Damn, I'm going to start designing clocks!

 

[samcraig]

Wait... that clock design is a copyrighted 'design'? It looks like the most generic interpretation of the 'clock concept' I've ever seen.

Really - the shape and style of the iPhone and iPad are things that are under patent litigation?

Yes. While you may think it's generic - it's a minimalist design that has been around for decades. Perhaps that's why you see it as "generic"

 

[Andeavor]

Is it me but should the Swiss now demand a new Terminal in a newly built-up area, now that they are flush with Apple money?

We're well covered with terminals and public transport as is; it's the maintenance they should spend it on.

 

[MrWillie]

Everyone knows big companies are the big tax evaders and not small businesses. We are talking Apple here, no need to bring up Google. Why is the european siege of Apple locate in Luxembourg? because that way they pay next to nothing in taxes in comparison with what they could be paying in other countries. Free market ****, I know, but we as citizens are the only losers.

Then maybe France (as the US), should lower their corporate taxes. They are only doing what is allowed by law. They would be stupid not to. I bring up Google because there are people that claim that they hate Apple, but use Google, when they do the same thing, plus things that aren't allowed. (Thus their recent $22.5 million dollar fine by the FTC).

 

[WestonHarvey1]

So Apple paid 21 Million for a flippin' clock and only paid 2.5 million to help Hurricane Sandy victims?


What a load of BS...shows how much Apple cares.

Well, why didn't Swiss Railways turn right around and donate the 21 million to Sandy victims, then? You can criticize them just as much as Apple.

 

[nebo1ss]

Here is a clock from 1900 (predating the Mondaine design) with a very similar red circle on the second hand.

Image

But I doubt Smiths of Astral are still around to sue Mondaine.

That second hand looks nothing like the one on the Swiss Railway clock. The design of the second hand is based on a device that the station conductor held in his hand to signal to the driver when he could leave the station.

Mondaine are but a licensee of the design and they pay Swiss railway to make watches with the design. The original agreement they signed gave them exclusivity. Apple not only infringed the Swiss patent but the exclusivity agreement that Mondaine had.

 

[Gravity]

I still have to wonder

I still think this design is very derivative... and minimalistic. Form following function. If you're to design a clock that has to look good when shrunk down to the size of an icon... you can't have a lot of detail in there. So that means no numbers. The five minute marks, of course, would be heavier than the other minute marks... and your second hand would have to be a bright color to stand out (red's an obvious choice)... and so that there's no confusion where its POSITION is at any given moment, a big circle/dot at the end of the second hand, again, is obvious.

I could easily have designed this myself given the design restrictions that exist on an iPhone. And never having seen the Swiss Railways Clock. And I don't think that's worth $21 million.

 

[downpour]

That second hand looks nothing like the one on the Swiss Railway clock.

Yeah Mondaine's red circle looks "nothing like" the Smiths Astral red circle on their Edwardian ships clock...

I mean they moved the dot to the other end of the second hand, that's clearly $21 million of original design right there.

But if we are going to get that pedantic, then Apple's clock has thinner hands and marks around the face, than Mondaine's design.

 

[axual]

Memo to Tim C.

Memo to Tim C.

Stop wasting money on stuff like this.

If you're going to spend this kind of money, I would have rather you donated $21 million in free iPads for kids who would use them.

Also, I would have been happy to redesign the clock logo for $1000.

A shareholder.

 

[orandaadnaro]

Clock where

I wish people would stop belly aching about the 20 million or so spent on this face, what is done is done.

My question is how can I as a mac/ios user actually get it to show on my Apple equipment?

I'd like to see it on my iPhone 5!

 

[oliversl]

Hey, its a good looking clock, lets pay the price.

How many tablets have a 21 million clock?

 

[winston1236]

Wow. I would have just changed the clock design in an iOS update and called it good.

Except they had already stolen the design. Somewhere in that money is a dont sue us paymen

 

[hchung]

1. Expanding before exploding.

2. They told me.

Really? You had two individual battery pack's cells burst and outgassed? What in the world are you doing with these? Target practice?

What did it smell like to you?

 

[brdeveloper]

Apple should hire more lawyers in all countries where they sell iStuff.

 

[Kwill]

How is this good management of AAPL shareholder assets? Apple could have distributed solid gold Rolex watches to the first 1,000 iPhone 5 customers for that kind of money. All we receive is a digital clock. Granted, Apple lost negotiation leverage when it infringed before coming to the table but the whole situation was mismanaged and not worthwhile.

 

[50548]

This is fair.

Only if you mean greedy Swiss companies (I know a lot of them) - CHF 20 million is a ridiculously-high amount of money for what is a very basic clock design.

They were only able to get that because it's cheap change for Apple - that doesn't mean it's fair.

 

[LostSoul80]

We're well covered with terminals and public transport as is; it's the maintenance they should spend it on.

Do trains always run in time there? I'm really curious, is this a legend or reality?

 

[mdelvecchio]

Wasted money, when there is no new Mac Pro or the "released" iMac doesn't even have a proper HD (unless you go for the fusion drive).

Would be better spent on developing better hardware and software.

This shows the arrongance of today's Apple, "we want it we buy it" (in this case was more "we have to pay for it, we pay").

dont suppose it ever occured to you people that they didnt *want* to spend $21MM on the license, but had their hand forced since theyd alreayd released the infringing OS into the wild...

 

[mdelvecchio]

So Apple paid 21 Million for a flippin' clock and only paid 2.5 million to help Hurricane Sandy victims?

What a load of BS...shows how much Apple cares.

....maybe didnt realize you were the charity czar? better let them know, quick, ok?

me -- i bet if we were to ask Red Cross theyd be pretty happy about getting a 2.5 million, free. you know, more money than your entire generic line has likely ever generated? put together? at once? yeah, i bet theyre pretty comfortable with it.

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So Apple is not fine with licensing a perfectly functional Google Maps, but is ok with licensing a Swiss clock for 21 M?

you dont seem to have much understanding of the issues here. this fee was so high because by the time they negotiated it, apple had already infringed.

not licensing google's mapping data is much more complicated, including likely giving up privacy restrictions that apple wasnt willing to do. im glad for it. not to mention apple's legitmate business interest in owning its own core tech.

http://daringfireball.net/2012/09/get_the_fainting_chair

...again, im pretty happy. the new maps are way more delightful to use than the old.

 

[righteye]

If they own the rights i'm sure they will be suing the Ar$e of anyone who uses it in the future and recouping some of those costs.

 

[ggibson913]

It's probably cheaper than losing a law suit or doing a mass release to change it back to the old clock.

 

[mdelvecchio]

21 million on a clock!! 2.5 million on Sandy! And there are people starving in the world

ah - so now its apple's job to feed the world's starving masses? really?

do you ask the same of all the rest of the world's for-profit businesses? why or why not?

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LOL this is so stupid.. Apple cant make their own iconic Clock ICON that's absurd... Hell hire me I will make you one for a mere $1000.00 (Still ripping you off but hey it's not 21 million ripoff)

whats stupid is that you dont understand that this payment was negotiated after apple already infringed on the IP (a dumb mistake, im sure)...therefore they had to bend over rather than get into a pricey lawsuit.

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$21 million for a clock design....

I can't even fathom that. The money that companies are throwing around these days for crazy things boggles the mind.

you really dont get it. this wasnt payment for a design. it was in lieu of a lawsuit and court judgement.

 

[dndandrea]

Is this only on the ipad? I have the iphone 5 with iOS6 and it doesn't have this.

 

[madgick]

My new get rich quick scheme is to patent useless things like fonts and shapes and really really hope that apple accidentally infringe on one of them and cough $10million at me when everyone finds out