4 ms·

I'm curious about your insertion of "whether it was copied or not from the Swiss design" - any suggestion that this was designed independently by someone who ha

I'm curious about your insertion of "whether it was copied or not from the Swiss design" - any suggestion that this was designed independently by someone who had never seen the Swiss design is either fantasy or absurdity.

tedunangst 14y ago
Boss: We should include a clock face that looks like that Swiss one. Minion: Aye aye. Doesn't mean the boss intended for it to be an exact copy, or that anybody even realized it was protected. Swiss clocks are like 900 years old, surely it's public domain by now, right?
- novamantis 14y ago
  Public domain? I swear, I feel like I'm living in some kind of bizzaro world where everything copyrighted, trademarked, patented, cursed & sanctified... How is this even a dicussion?! We debating whether shaped are worth suing over & crying designs are worth this much. Am I the only one that sees how hilariously messed up this situation is?
  - jrockway 14y ago
    But the second hand has a cancerous growth at the end. The courts must protect this or nobody will create new clock designs anymore!
- jlgreco 14y ago
  > 900 years old Plus or minus, you know, an order of magnitude. The Swiss railway clock was designed in the 40s/50s.
skeletonjelly 14y ago
Is it not possible that two designs can exist of a simple structure such as a clock without any interaction between the two people? Look I'm not defending Apple, I actually think it's deplorable. I'm not the jury or judge though. I haven't heard a statement from Apple as to whether or not they're sorry or have otherwise made an excuse.
- ekianjo 14y ago
  You know Apple only makes excuses once they have a court order telling them to do so. And even then, they try to get away with it by making the excuse non-sincere.
- DanBC 14y ago
  _A_ clock? Maybe. _This_ particular clock? Very very unlikely. Especially in a company such as Apple where design is so important. It's impossible that Apple were unaware of this design.
- alexqgb 14y ago
  This particular clock face is a fetish object within design circles. The idea that several layers of Apple design people were unfamiliar with it is absurd. To get any more absurd, you'd have to postulate the existence of a tenured English professor at Yale who has never heard of Shakespeare.
- smackfu 14y ago
  > I haven't heard a statement from Apple as to whether or not they're sorry or have otherwise made an excuse Part of the $21 million is to not have to say that.
Camillo 14y ago
That's how Apple feels about Samsung, too. Hence, it's better for them to pay $21M to the Swiss than to support the notion that such design similarities happen by coincidence.
- jacquesm 14y ago
  Except that in Apple's case such blatant copying of a design would be worth at least $30 per instance.
vadimoss 14y ago
and all Apple's designers should swear they have never been to MOMA:). From wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_railway_clock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_railway_clock ): "it has... included among examples of outstanding 20th-century design by both the Design Museum in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City"
- smackfu 14y ago
  Although to be honest that display at MoMA is a bunch of big glass cases with products in them. A lot of products. And I don't remember seeing the railway clock there, although the iPod definitely is.

tedunangst 14y ago

Boss: We should include a clock face that looks like that Swiss one. Minion: Aye aye. Doesn't mean the boss intended for it to be an exact copy, or that anybody even realized it was protected. Swiss clocks are like 900 years old, surely it's public domain by now, right?

novamantis 14y ago
Public domain? I swear, I feel like I'm living in some kind of bizzaro world where everything copyrighted, trademarked, patented, cursed & sanctified... How is this even a dicussion?! We debating whether shaped are worth suing over & crying designs are worth this much. Am I the only one that sees how hilariously messed up this situation is?
- jrockway 14y ago
  But the second hand has a cancerous growth at the end. The courts must protect this or nobody will create new clock designs anymore!
jlgreco 14y ago
> 900 years old Plus or minus, you know, an order of magnitude. The Swiss railway clock was designed in the 40s/50s.

skeletonjelly 14y ago

Is it not possible that two designs can exist of a simple structure such as a clock without any interaction between the two people? Look I'm not defending Apple, I actually think it's deplorable. I'm not the jury or judge though. I haven't heard a statement from Apple as to whether or not they're sorry or have otherwise made an excuse.

ekianjo 14y ago
You know Apple only makes excuses once they have a court order telling them to do so. And even then, they try to get away with it by making the excuse non-sincere.
DanBC 14y ago
_A_ clock? Maybe. _This_ particular clock? Very very unlikely. Especially in a company such as Apple where design is so important. It's impossible that Apple were unaware of this design.
alexqgb 14y ago
This particular clock face is a fetish object within design circles. The idea that several layers of Apple design people were unfamiliar with it is absurd. To get any more absurd, you'd have to postulate the existence of a tenured English professor at Yale who has never heard of Shakespeare.
smackfu 14y ago
> I haven't heard a statement from Apple as to whether or not they're sorry or have otherwise made an excuse Part of the $21 million is to not have to say that.

Camillo 14y ago

That's how Apple feels about Samsung, too. Hence, it's better for them to pay $21M to the Swiss than to support the notion that such design similarities happen by coincidence.

jacquesm 14y ago
Except that in Apple's case such blatant copying of a design would be worth at least $30 per instance.

vadimoss 14y ago

and all Apple's designers should swear they have never been to MOMA:). From wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_railway_clock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_railway_clock ): "it has... included among examples of outstanding 20th-century design by both the Design Museum in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City"

smackfu 14y ago
Although to be honest that display at MoMA is a bunch of big glass cases with products in them. A lot of products. And I don't remember seeing the railway clock there, although the iPod definitely is.