Apple struck a deal with Swiss railway operator SBB earlier this month that allows the Cupertino company to continue using its iconic railway clock design for the clock app on the iPad. It seems, however, that SBB may not have had the right to license its design to Apple after all.
You see, a clock and watch manufacturer called Mondaine has an exclusive license with SBB that means it should be the only company with the rights to the design. Mondaine says it was “surprised” to hear that SBB had been granted Apple a license, too.
We thought that would be the end of the whole thing. But apparently not. In a press release, Mondaine insists it should be the exclusive licensee of the design:
Mondaine holds a long term exclusive licensee according to a contract with SBB to produce, distribute and market watches and clocks based on the SBB design since 1986 and got surprised to hear about a license agreement between SBB and Apple.
Mondaine co-owner Andre Bernheim played down the situation by saying: “Apple shows great taste by choosing this design for their clock on their devices, and now, the owners of Mondaine watches and clocks as well as iPad owners can even enjoy the same distinct design.”
Whether or not Mondaine will let this slide — considering it shouldn’t actually make any difference to its own products — remains to be seen. But I’ll bet it’s not happy with the SBB.
Source: Macworld
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
8 responses to “Apple’s Deal For Swiss Clock Design Breaks Mondaine’s “Exclusive” Licensing Agreement”
Here’s a new and relevant comment on an old article – It probably made no difference to Mondaine back in 2012, because the iconic clock face was only going to appear as digital facsimile on an ipad screen, which could hardly be confused with a mechanical Swiss watch. Now fast forward to 2014 – and voilá, Apple is on the verge of releasing a wrist-wearable iOS device presumably to be called the “iWatch”. So suddenly Mondaine will now be faced with a situation in which it’s iconic dial design will appear on the wrists of millions of Apple devotees around the world. This will surely dilute their brand image, and quite possibly destroy it, unless they step in and force Apple to use some other clock-face design on its iWatch. Good luck with that Mondaine, here’s hoping the SBB is on your side.