A few months ago a French railway company suggested that Apple stole their clock design. At the time Apple never denied the claim or nor did they did. Yesterday Apple made a payment to the company of $21 million for “borrowing” the clock design. This is the same company that jumps on Samsung for stealing when they do the same.
Tages-Anzeiger now reports [Google translation] that the licensing agreement resulted in Apple making a payment of approximately 20 million Swiss francs ($21 million) to the agency. The report indicates that amount has been leaked by several sources, but the Swiss Federal Railways and Apple have refused to comment on the situation.
The report also suggests that the licensing agreement may not provide any compensation to watchmaker Mondaine, which has been the sole consumer-focused licensee of the design. Mondaine is reportedly happy that Apple has provided increased visibility for the clock design, but remains in discussions with the Swiss Federal Railways over the issue in order to ensure that it is resolved to the satisfaction of all parties involved.
