Apple looks to trademark ‘rights’ of apple fruit

Apple is fighting against Fruit Union Suisse for its official logo, as the logo depicts a red apple with a white Swiss flag cross superimposed on it.

The iPhone maker Apple reportedly aims to win intellectual property (IP) rights over the depiction of the fruit on which the company is named after. After this move, the fruit farmers' organisation is little worried, as per a report by Wired.

The fight has been going on for six years between Apple and Fruit Union Suisse. The Fruit Union Suisse is promoting the interests of Swiss fruit growers for over 100 years. Throughout this, the association has been using a logo of a red apple with a white cross on it. 

If the technology company won the IP, then the Swiss organisation Fruit Union Suisse has to change its logo because the iPhone maker is attempting to secure IP rights for "a realistic, black-and-white depiction of an apple variety known as the Granny Smith".

"Apple's quest to own the IP rights of something as generic as a fruit speaks to the dynamics of a flourishing global IP rights industry, which encourages companies to compete obsessively over trademarks they don't really need," the report noted.

Jimmy Mariethoz, director of Fruit Union Suisse is little cautious as Apple has always been aggressive in pursuing things that it perceives as infringements on its trademarks, adding that they’re looking to compete with the tech giant. However, the Fruit Union Suisse has been around for over 100 years.

"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," Fruit Union Suisse director Jimmy Mariethoz was quoted in the report.

The tech giant had submitted an application to the Swiss Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) in 2017, requesting the IP rights for a realistic, black-and-white depiction of an apple variety known as the Granny Smith -- the generic green apple.

The request covered an extensive list of potential uses -- "mostly on electronic, digital, and audiovisual consumer goods and hardware," according to the report.

The Swiss institute partially granted Apple's request last year, saying that Apple could have rights relating to only some of the goods it wanted. Apple later filed an appeal.