Apple reportedly paid $21M to use Swiss Railway clock design - Page 3

So you accuse Apple to pay for something they use in their system rather than stealing.

This logic sounds very samsungish to me!

Apple infringing on others patents is not something new.

I remember when this story originally came up and the owners of the patent said it wasn't to do with money, just respect for the design.

Looks like $21M paid for that respect. Good job it wasn't about the money huh!  

Yeah, I see your post now. It wasn't there when I started mine. Obviously the designs are far more similar. Could the other AI one be the original 1944 design? this one looks more refined.

 

Clearly Apple's is not "exactly the same" as you say, but it is a very close copy. I'd have to admit that Apple's design isn't hands down supieror to  this one, but they have made some different design choices which might be seen as improvements (or not.)

Anyway, they have paid for it (and rather dearly!)

 

Quote:

Yes, it is an attractive clock, but it was an obvious copy. I am glad that this chapter is over, and since we don't really know how much $ was paid, we should sit tight for now. What is most important, is that Apple management creates a better procedure for futrure vetting of the "creative." This is reminiscent of the Samsung manager claiming to have created its icons from scratch in this summer's trial.

wow people are arguing that this is worth the money, but paying more than $1 per device for a patent that without it renders the phone useless is absurd?

I'm assuming that Apple's design boffins figured - incorrectly, as it turns out - that the design was public domain.  Whoopsie!

 

That having been said, $21 million is probably cheap compared to the litigation costs if this thing had gone to trial.  Apple would almost certainly lose, and be held liable for damages as well as being penalized.  

 

In the end, $21 million is probably a good deal.

 

Also, we don't know what else might be a part of this deal.  Maybe the Swiss Railway has agreed to partner with Apple on some other product - Passbook or something - which caused Apple to sweeten the deal.

 

Apple may have also bought exclusive digital rights to the design, so NOBODY else can have it. That's also worth some bucks.

That is true, Forstall would probably end up with something more... detailed? Maybe something like..:



But still. Beside seconds hand, rest of clock doesn't really look like. General concept is the same - minimalistic - but hands are of different shape, as well as hours/minutes marks on background. Not much different, but still... I don't really get it. Personally, I'd rather release small update with different seconds hand (especially that I don't really like THAT seconds hand) than pay 21M.

 

If no one else is paying more than $1, Apple doesn't have to. That's sort of the idea.

Personally I like the Dutch railway clock better, but I'm biased as I'm Dutch. I also think it is more precise, though I like the tapered hands on the SBB version.



Sprechen Sie Deutsch?
http://www.sbb.ch/sbb-konzern/medien/medienmitteilungen.newsdetail.2012-10-1210_1.html
Edited by PhilBoogie - 11/12/12 at 2:32am

This is what Steve would have done. If he liked the design he'd pay for it.

 

I like the new clock, but then I bought a watch like this a year ago so I would like it. Guess it shows I must be cool if Apple decided to do the same thing as me

it's all about quality image, which I can see most of you don't understand

 

They a branch of SBB? Hope no one claims that clock isn't a take off of SBB's or that SBB "has no ability" to sue them.

Hahaha! Well, SBB never sued the Dutch Railways for using this design. Then again, the Dutch Railways don't have money. Not any. Apple has, and might have been the incentive for SBB to sue - who knows? That's the nice thing about this site; it's all about rumors, I don't know sh¡te!

I like the Dutch version too, but it's not as determinedly minimalist as the Swiss version. In fact, it seems a bit more friendly, but busier. It's amazing how just a few slight changes—the pointed hands, the punctured second hand "signal" —make such a difference in the feel of the design.

I wonder when the Dutch one appeared, and if the Swiss railway objected?

Seems like a highly unlikely number, unless the only alternative was a very expensive lawsuit. The only thing that really makes the designs significantly similar is the red circle on the second hand. Everything else is pretty standard clock stuff, and not identical.

I wonder if it wasn't just a big mistake: someone went on Wikipedia looked at the year it was designed (1944) and miscalculated 70 years of intellectual rights later...

I have been outsourcing for design for Apple several time and I can tell that they are tough as any other company when it come to the budget, so I don't think they are OK to just spend an extra $20 millions. Will this hurt them? No! But the PR was worst than paying. In the end, I am glad to see the swiss railway clock, I've always been a fan of!

I agreed with you