FILE PHOTO: A logo of Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group is pictured during the annual news conference in Biel, Switzerland, March 14, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
April 2, 2019
ZURICH (Reuters) – A Swiss court has backed Swatch Group in a trademark row with Apple Inc over the watchmaker’s use of the “Tick different” slogan, which Apple had decried as an infringement of its “Think Different” advertising campaign.
Swatch had contended Apple’s Think Different was not known well enough in Switzerland to warrant protection.
In a ruling released on Tuesday, the Federal Administrative Court agreed, saying Apple had not produced documents that sufficiently backed up its case.
Apple’s ads, used from 1997 until 2002 and backed by a “Here’s to the crazy ones” commercial to support its computer line, was seen as a play on rival IBM’s “Think” motto.
(Reporting by Michael Shields; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
