Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
The Courts Apple

Apple Loses Bid To Stop Swatch Using Jobs's 'One More Thing' Cue (bloomberg.com) 52

"One more thing," Steve Jobs would say at the end of many an Apple keynote, giving his cue for announcing a surprise new product. But Apple can't keep its founder's turn of phrase for itself, a London judge ruled Monday as he sided with Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group AG in a long-running dispute over trademarks. From a report: Swatch's attempt to register the phrase might have been an attempt to "annoy" Apple, Judge Iain Purvis said in his ruling, but Apple can't block it from doing so. Purvis said in his ruling that the phrase probably originated with the fictional TV detective Columbo. A previous court officer was wrong to say that "Swatch's intentions had stepped over the line between the appropriate and inappropriate use of a trade mark," Purvis added. The dispute is part of a broader battle between the Cupertino, California-based company and Swatch over the naming of watches that goes back to the launch of Apple's own product in 2015 when Apple was prevented from calling its version the 'iWatch'. The dispute with Swatch extended to other trademarks including the watchmaker's move to register 'Tick Different' evoking Apple's own slogan of 'Think Different.'
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Apple Loses Bid To Stop Swatch Using Jobs's 'One More Thing' Cue

Comments Filter:
  • ... there's more.

  • by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Monday March 29, 2021 @04:26PM (#61214684)

    Does anyone outside of Apple care? Do Apple nerds care? Does anyone care?!

  • by Anonymous Coward
    They are toddlers.
  • The "one more thing" may be popularised in this industry by Jobs, but he's not the first to use it in presentations, and definitely not the last. I believe Nintendo ends all their Directs this way as well.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It was a catch phrase from the TV show Columbo which aired in 1968.

      I don't know why anyone would pretend this is somehow an Apple thing, or some other tech company thing. This isn't something Jobs or any other tech, or watch company invented, it's a meme from a fucking 60s TV show that Jobs decided to use - I would say popularise, but it was already pretty popular from the TV show anyway.

  • by Sebby ( 238625 ) on Monday March 29, 2021 @04:31PM (#61214706)

    Priceless to see Apple complaining about its non-trademarks being "infringed" when Apple itself violated others' trademarks [wikipedia.org], including doing it willfully after agreeing not to.

    • Priceless to see Apple complaining about its non-trademarks being "infringed" when Apple itself violated others' trademarks [wikipedia.org], including doing it willfully after agreeing not to.

      Really, the Beatle's Apple Records thing?

  • Swatches were cool for like 3 or 4 days in the 1980s if I recall. Add them to the huge list of companies that could have been great if they handed sat on their hands.

    • Who even knew they were still in business? A few rare models go for good money on ebay.

      • I still have one from 87. In great shape, cause it was only cool for 5 minutes, worth more than the $30 I paid in 87.

    • Early '90s, actually. I had to look it up on Wikipedia to get the years (1990-1993); but the only time Swatches were ever cool in my neck of the woods was when Parker Lewis Can't Lose ("Synchronize... Swatches!") was on the air.

      The only other time Swatch was in any way notable was later on in the '90s when they got the notion that they could covert the world to "Universal Internet Time". It would have been metric; with days divided into 1000 "beats" to replace hours, minutes, and seconds. And, for some r

      • by jrumney ( 197329 )

        for some reason I don't recall, midnight 0000 would have actually been based on UTC+1

        UTC+1 is Switzerland's timezone.

    • by jrumney ( 197329 )

      The Swatch group has done pretty great, considering they were formed from two bankrupt companies in 1983, and now control a large portion of the watch market. The Swatch brand was only their counter to Casio/Seiko/Citizen at the low end of the market. Now they are also manufacturing low end watches for many of the fashion brands, and they still have their luxury brands like Omega, Tissot and Longines, along with others they have acquired since.

  • What about "hello" ? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Monday March 29, 2021 @05:14PM (#61214900)

    What about the fact that Steve Jobs used to say "hello" when he meets someone? Shouldn't Apple have the right to patent, trademark, and copyright that? Steve Jobs after all helped to popularize greeting people with "hello." Remember when he called Starbucks from the iPhone introduction and greeted the barista using the word "hello" .. or when he called Jony Ive and said "hello"? Pretty sure Apple has a strong case.

  • Columbo predates Steve Jobs' self-aggrandizing showmanship by a few decades. But like many things Apple, they just want the credit for something that is neither original nor interesting.

  • I'm going to trademark "What the Fuck!"

  • by Anonymous Coward
    But if "the phrase probably originated with the fictional TV detective Columbo", why is anyone allowed to trademark it?
  • I think this makes two things clear:
    1. Apple has so much cash they don't know what to do with it, but decided on more lawyers.
    2. Swatch looks like douche-bags for trying this crap.

  • A bunch of attorneys got paid for this horseshit.

  • Some of us remember Detective Columbo saying that very same phrase, every episode. Usually as he announces the solution to the case.

    Apple, Swatch, or both should be paying NBC royalties for that.

    • Yup. I don't identify it with Apple, Jobs, or Swatch at all, but it was always the gotcha point in every Columbo episode.

Some people claim that the UNIX learning curve is steep, but at least you only have to climb it once.

Working...