The “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”, in German, writes about Apple not being able to register the Trademark “iPhone” in Switzerland (German).
In a nutshell for our English and non-germanic readers:
In Switzerland, the iPhone brand has been classified public domain, and by Swiss law, rightfully so. Unless the claimant holder (in this case, Apple) proves to a Swiss court that a brand has entered popular use, it cannot be registered and protected by trademark laws. In other words, as of this point, I could sell a similar product(phone, PDA, MP3) in Switzerland without legal consequences – for now. The apparent explanation for this is that “i” may refer to anything from “I, me” to “Internet” and has never been explicitly defined by Apple. The “phone” part of the word is a simple English language word and can’t be registered.
Three things strike me about this.
First, Apple will take this to the federal court in Lausanne, so I doubt this is a permanent situation. I just wonder how one proves that a word has entered popular culture (apart from being depicted on the front page of the New Yorker).
Second, this would mean that Apps, in Switzerland, could at this point contain the “iPhone” word, e.g. “iPhoneRip” (analogous to iPodRip, or today, iRip). This doesn’t violate the iPhone SDK agreement or any other Apple liturgy for that matter because they only protect Apple from illegal use of registered trademarks. iPhone is not a registered trademark in Switzerland.
And third, of course, at the end of the day, none of this will make a dent in the universe, because no-one seems to care for dear Switzerland, and because Apple will get its way. I find it funny, to begin with, that a Swiss judge wants proof that this “iPhone” thing might be culturally big.
