Apple loses trademark dispute in Switzerland against fashion label Steve Jobs
The Federal Administrative Court has rejected an appeal by Apple. The U.S. company had sought to take legal action against two Italian brothers.
How the Switzerland at the weekend reports, the two men run a fashion label called Steve Jobs. As Apple has not had the name of the deceased company founder protected, the company cannot do anything about the use of the name.
However, Apple is not only bothered by this, but above all by the logo that the Italians use. This is based on the Apple logo in various ways. The leaf of the iconic Apple apple, for example, was copied 1:1. The fashion label's logo is also bitten off.
In Switzerland, Apple called in the renowned Zurich law firm Lenz & Staehelin to put an end to the hustle and bustle. The aim was to ensure that the logo could not be used in this country. Law firm partner Jürg Simon, who was formerly Director of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, has now taken legal action against his former employer for rejecting Apple's trademark protection application.
In vain: Although the judges recognized that the similarity of the logos was "striking", the Switzerland at the weekend. However, since there was no likelihood of confusion, the Italians also deserved trademark protection in Switzerland.
Incidentally, the fact that the two Italians - despite requests from the registry and the court - did not appear at the hearing and did not respond to any other attempts to contact them did not change the verdict.
Switzerland does not seem to be a good place for Apple to apply for trademark protection. The company has already failed in its attempt to protect the iTunes app logo with the music notes. Apple also wanted to take action against Swatch because the watch brand had the Steve Jobs slogan "One More Thing" protected. However, the US company canceled the court hearing at the last minute.
