Is Apple bullying small firms? Swiss Fruit Union could be forced to change the logo

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Apple, currently the largest company in the world, with almost a $3B market cap, didn’t achieve this by chance. The credit for this success is certainly goes to their high-quality products, which many customers even adore. But, there are many other stuff Apple does, that are not so kind. The newest Apple logo dispute could force a 100-year-old Swiss Fruit Union to change its logo.

Namely, Apple is also well-known for many unauthorized use of patents, and even copying cell phone designs. Such as a lawsuit against Samsung more than 10 years ago. But, from today’s perspective, when all cell phones look practically the same, it sounds ridiculous. At the time, Apple sued Samsung for coping design of iPhone. The US court sentenced in Apple’s favour, and forced Samsung to pay a $500M fine. Sasmsung was also forced to remove Galaxy S phones from US market. No matter that this model was launched three years after the first iPhone. Otherwise, Apple also has large history of lawsuits against many companies over variuous reasons. More than any other from the tech competitors.

In the meantime, the Cupertino company entered into various disputes with other companies over various details. A significant Apple logo dispute occurred recently when the company Prepear was forced to change its logo. The leaf on the pear, according to Apple’s lawyers, was too reminiscent of Apple’s one. Prepear made a settlement on a correction of the logo in order to avoid a court case.

The latest Apple logo dispute opens many questions

The latest Apple logo dispute now comes from Switzerland. An association of fruit producers has gone public with details of a dispute that has been going on since 2017. As Wired reports, the Swiss Fruit Union is an association that has been promoting Swiss fruit for more than 100 years.

The Swiss Fruit Union’s logo uses a red apple with a white cross, symbolizing the Swiss flag. But its redesign from 2011, which marked the 100th anniversary, was controversial to Cupertino’s lawyers. The apple on the logo is shown differently than on the previous one, so they believe that it resembles theirs.

The Swiss association notes that Apple logo disputes are pure “bullying” by a powerful corporation. They point out that Apple simply wants to monopolize anything that resembles fruits. Not just Apples, as we’ve seen in PrePear case.

Some resemblances are visible, of course. In 2022, the International Organization for the Protection of Intellectual Properties gave Apple a partial win. But the story is still far from over.

The Union further points out that if this case is ruled in favor of Apple, “we’re entering a very slippery territory, where we’ll have to be careful every time we want to advertise apples”.

In this Apple logo dispute, the Union refers to information from the IPI. It states that Apple has submitted several similar fillings, which opened many new questions.

Is Apple really bullying small companies?

Wired further states that it is not entirely clear why the Swiss have gone public with this just now. The reason may be that they sensed that a possible court case would cost them money. So they’re trying to warn the public about the “unacceptable behavior” of Apple.

Does this Apple logo dispute make sense? And does Apple has the right to monopolize the fruits, decide for yourself? It’s worth noting that the TTP previously reported that in the last three years, Apple has filed more claims for trademark infringement than Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Amazon combined.

So, is Apple evil, or does it just want to protect its intellectual property? What do you think? Tell us your opinion in the comments section below.