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Comment by zdw | Hacker News Reader

They also copied the look of Braun's classic calculator and tape deck designs for their calculator and podcasts apps.

Is this particular instance copying? Yes.

Will it affect the popularity of said designs in a positive manner? Probably.

Will they sell more of their $400 clock (see: http://www.momastore.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDi...) as a result? I'd guess at yes.

So, in any case, they sell more clocks, or if they litigate and win, they get a license fee out of Apple. So getting copied by Apple has a downside where?

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So when Apple infringes on someone else's trademarked products, the affected party should be grateful? Because it might be "free" advertising?

Are you out of your mind?

What's with the sycophantic comments all over this story excusing Apple's terrible behavior?

There is a difference between "homage" and "rip-off"

Look at all of the designs that Dieter Rams did, that Apple used in their own products:

http://gizmodo.com/343641/1960s-braun-products-hold-the-secr...

And look what Dieter things about this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/8555503/Dieter-R...

Can you not see the difference between what Apple is doing and what Samsung is doing?

This clock is a "slavish copy" of the Swiss clock, down to the weight of each element and the presence of the red hand. You can't possibly say it's an 'homage' any more than running the Mona Lisa through a color Xerox would be.

Edit: It appears to be merely "almost" identical to the Swiss clock and instead is a slavish copy of the Austrian clock, given the weight of the minute hash marks.

But one question is, does Apple's copy do any damage to the original designer? It is obvious that Samsung is hoping to "steal" iPhone sales; it is obvious that Apple did not do Braun's defunct products any harm. But how about this case? I'm undecided, but I still think Apple should have licensed the design.

The point is, Apple makes no bones about it being a carbon copy. If you asked them, they would throw their hands up in frustration and say, that is the entire point.

They absolutely intended for anyone who see's this clock to immediately recognize they were paying tribute to the original.

Traditionally, designers have appreciated these little nods of respect.

I'm not sure what happened with SBB, but I'm sure it will play out to their benefit.

In the case of Samsung, Apple _wanted_ Samsung to pull their product from the market. In the case of SBB, it would be slap to their face if Apple just decided to yank their clock off the iPad.

Hopefully it will all work out for the best - Apple will license the likeness for some moderate fee, and everyone walks away happy.

>immediately recognize they were paying tribute to the original //

s/were paying tribute to/copied.

Surely the point is that an ethical business seeks license from those they choose to copy before doing so. It is not at all respectful to copy verbatim without seeking any form of warrant or approval.

Depending on his trademark and copyright holdings, Dieter was well within his right to take Apple to court; that he chose not to is his own prerogative, but it doesn't turn theft into "homage".

Not sure if you're trolling but, obviously, Apple is not paying any license fees for this: “An SBB spokesman told Tages-Anzeiger that he was pleased Apple was using the design, but noted that the company was not authorized to do so.” I don't think anyone would claim there are any downsides, as long as Apple pays SBB what SBB feels is reasonable to authorize Apple to use SBB's design.

They do have Dieter Rams blessings in taking inspiration from his work at Braun. Copying the Mondaine clock is just clearly a ripoff and terrible.

er, the $400 clock is a foot-and-a-half across. You probably want the more reasonably priced normal clock: http://www.momastore.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDi...

$200 is not very reasonably priced

Still better than $400

My new goal: come up with someone clever enough that Apple rips it off and I can ride their coattails. That's the best I can ever do, right?

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