Apple Licenses 68-Year-Old Swiss Clock Design From SBB Railway
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Apple Inc., which is fighting patent battles with competitors around the globe, agreed to license a 68-year-old design for a clock for Swiss railway stations to use in its iPhone and iPad devices.
State-owned railway operator SBB said last month that while Apple had infringed rights to the motif, it was “proud that Apple took an SBB design.” Apple will now be allowed to use the look of the station clock, designed in 1944 and featuring a “striking red second hand in the shape of a railway guard’s signalling disc,” on its mobile devices, SBB said in a statement today. The companies agreed not to disclose the fee.