Swiss company alleges Apple copied its clock design

The analogue-style clock face in the new Clock app on the iPad, which is a part of iOS 6 has been found to bear direct resemblance to the clocks of the Swiss Federal Railway (Schweizerische Bundesbahnen or SBB). Swiss newspaper, Tages Anzeiger, has reported that the SBB will be seeking financial compensation from the Cupertino giant for having copied the design of its trademark product. The report quoted an SBB spokesperson, Christian Ginsig, as saying, “We enjoy the fact that the Swiss railway clock is being used by Apple. It once again proves that it’s a real piece of design. This act, however, is an unauthorized use [of the clock’s design] by Apple." The SBB spokesperson stressed that it is the “sole owner of the trademarks and copyrights of the station clock.” 

SBB is now demanding financial compensation

Apple has been in the news for the longest time for its patent battle with the South Korean mobile phone giant, Samsung Electronics. Apple had accused Samsung of copying the designs of its popular products. A news as such as this, in which the SBB has accused Apple’s designers of blatantly copying the design of its iconic clock, folks at the Cupertino-based company could find themselves in trouble. An end of sorts to the rather longstanding patent battle between two technology heavyweights – Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics came recently. Apple won and Samsung Electronics was left to cough up compensation to the tune of a staggering $1.05 billion.

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

At an event held earlier this month, apart from the iPhone 5, Apple also raised the curtains over iOS 6. The new version of the operating system comes packed with many features and is now officially available for download on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Apple has dropped iOS 6 support for the first generation iPad. iOS 6 can be downloaded directly onto your device through an over the air update, or you could let iTunes do your work for you by letting it download the update and install it on your iOS device.

One of the biggest changes to the operating system is the addition of Apple’s own Maps app, which has replaced Google Maps on iOS. The new Maps app has a built-in search for local points of interest, with over 100 million possible suggestions. Other features of the Maps app are navigation, routing, 3D Maps, satellite imagery – that wraps around the 3D Maps – and the ability to get directions directly through Siri.

Speaking of Siri, the virtual assistant has got some updates too. The new Siri update gives it the ability to display scores and rankings of your favourite sports teams, the ability to launch apps directly through Siri, and integration with the movie review aggregation site, Rotten Tomatoes.

Safari has also received a major update – the ability to go full screen on the device by touching the arrows on the corners. Another major feature of the new Safari app is the ability to sync tabs between the desktop and iOS versions of Safari. This new feature is called iCloud Tabs. The new Mail app has also received some updates, including the ability to mark people as VIPs and the ability to flag certain mails for follow-ups.