The Swiss Railway Clock is one of the most iconic clock faces of all time. And it seems the design mavens at Apple thought it was perfect for iOS6, which will debut on the iPhone 5 being release today. Too bad the copyright is owned by the Swiss Federal Railways and they don’t seem to agree that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
We found the story yesterday evening over at Mashable (where the above image is from), and it seems Apple might be facing legal pressure from the Swiss Federal Railways over lifting the iconic design. We’ll keep you informed as this develops, but there isn’t much information as of now except that the railway company intends to get in touch with Apple and is seeking legal and financial recompense.
Hans Hilfiker, a Swiss railway engineer, designed the clock in 1944, and the clocks are in thousands of train stations all over Switzerland and the rest of Europe. There is also the entire line of Mondaine watches, which have officially licensed the design from the Swiss Federal Railways.
Beyond the clean, modern lines of the design, the Swiss Railway Clock features another cool innovation. The second hand makes a full rotation in 58 seconds instead of the usual 60, and pauses at 12 o’clock for two seconds at the top of each minute. The idea behind this was to make the punctuality of the trains more pronounced, with even minutes seeming to drag out for the two seconds.
You can’t really blame the team over at Apple for wanting to incorporate such a great design into the new iOS. I, for one, am already itching to see it on a new phone…
Heeft de Swiss Federal Railways nog wel het patent ? En /of is het patent nog niet verstreken. Ik meen te weten dat men voor een bepaalde tijd een patent kan aanvragen en niet levenslang… of getwijfeld zullen er vele uitzonderingen en regels zijn.
Haha geweldig, ben benieuwd wat het appel gaat kosten. Heb een iphone maar wat ik irritant vind, is dat je hem maar aan 1 pc/laptop kan hangen, of heeft iemand hier een foefje voor?
