There might be prior art going back to the Garden of Eden but the fruity-cargo cult, Apple honestly believes that it owns the trademark to all apples everywhere.
In Switzerland, the Fruit Union Suisse uses a symbol of a red apple with a white cross – the Swiss national flag superimposed onto an apple. The group has over a hundred years of history and is now worried it may have to change its logo due to Apple’s insistence on trademarking fruit.
Apple has made similar demands to IP authorities around the world with varying degrees of success because authorities in Japan, Turkey, Israel, and Armenia have previously caved to the tech giant’s unreasonable requests and mighty briefs.
According to Jimmy Mariéthoz, Director of the Fruit Union Suisse said: “because it’s not like they’re trying to protect their bitten apple. Their objective here is really to own the rights to an actual apple, which, for us, is something that is really almost universal … that should be free for everyone to use.”
FUS’s logo lacks the so called “iconic ‘bite’ taken out of it” so Apple’s quest to own the IP rights to something as universally generic speaks volumes to the company’s arrogance and heartfelt belief that it can bully government organizations into doing as it pleases.
These current efforts to secure a trademark in Switzerland go as far back as 2017, when Apple submitted an application to the Swiss Institute of Intellectual Property requesting IP rights for a realistic, black-and-white depiction of a Granny Smith apple – a very generic apple, in other words. The request covered a multitude of uses like electronic, digital, and consumer goods. The request was denied but Apple has launched an appeal this year.
