The renowned technology company Manzana has filed a lawsuit against a Swiss fruit company with a track record of 111 years.
The dispute arises because the logo of the fruit company, which includes a appleallegedly too closely resembles the iconic Apple symbol.
The company in question is Fruit Union Suisse, Switzerland’s oldest and largest fruit farmers’ organization, whose logo features a red apple with a white cross inside, inspired by the national flag.
However, Apple argues that this visual representation is remarkably similar to its own logo.
Jimmy Mariéthoz, director of Fruit Union Suisse, expressed his bewilderment at Apple’s lawsuit: “It’s hard for us to understand the case, because it’s not like they’re trying to protect their bitten apple. Their goal is to own the worldwide rights to an apple, which “For us, it’s almost universal. Something that should be free for everyone to use.”
The businessman maintains that restricting the use of the visual representation of an apple would have a significant impact, since many companies use this symbol that is considered common and should not be penalized.
It is not the first time that Apple has taken legal action of this type. According to the records of the World Intellectual Property Organization, the technology company has carried out similar legal actions not only in Switzerland, but also in countries such as Japan, Turkey, Israel and Armenia.
This dispute reflects the current reality of an industry that drives companies to obsessively compete for trademarks they may not really need.
Apple seeks to acquire intellectual property rights to something as generic as a fruit, and the Swiss are not the first victims of this strategy by the technology giant.
Although this dispute began in 2017, a Swiss patent office limited the scope of use of the Apple logo by declaring that generic commons images belong to the public domain.
However, the company has filed an appeal against this sentence in order to appropriate the universal image of the apple.
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