Apple Reportedly Paid $21 Million for Rights to Swiss Railways Clock Design

ios 6 ipad clock iconBack in September, the Swiss Federal Railways accused Apple of copying its iconic clock design for the new Clock app for iPad included as part of iOS 6. Several weeks later, the agency announced that the dispute had been settled with Apple signing a licensing agreement for the design, although terms of the agreement were not announced.

Tages-Anzeiger now reports [Google translation] that the licensing agreement resulted in Apple making a payment of approximately 20 million Swiss francs ($21 million) to the agency. The report indicates that amount has been leaked by several sources, but the Swiss Federal Railways and Apple have refused to comment on the situation.

The report also suggests that the licensing agreement may not provide any compensation to watchmaker Mondaine, which has been the sole consumer-focused licensee of the design. Mondaine is reportedly happy that Apple has provided increased visibility for the clock design, but remains in discussions with the Swiss Federal Railways over the issue in order to ensure that it is resolved to the satisfaction of all parties involved.

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Top Rated Comments

thelonelylimo Avatar
166 months ago
time is money.
Score: 54 Votes (Like | Disagree)
neiltc13 Avatar
166 months ago
Or you could look at it another way - 21 million that could have been spent upgrading Mac Pro or fixing Final Cut Pro X, but they chose to spend it on a fancy clock instead.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tekno Avatar
166 months ago
Glad Apple didn't get away with stealing a trademark. If they're going to go after other companies that borrow from them, they need to pay-up to other companies.

But, with retrospect, I bet they'd rather have just got one of their overpaid designers to spend half an hour drawing a generic clock icon rather than spending $21m.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
antic Avatar
166 months ago
Puts things into perspective.
Sandy relief 2.5 million $
Clock face. 21 million $
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HarryKeogh Avatar
166 months ago
So essentially they paid 21 million bucks for the styling of that second hand.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jayducharme Avatar
166 months ago
I wonder if that was yet another thing that led to Forstall's departure.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)