May 25th, 2009
by Steven Sande.
Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
French jeweler / watchmaker Cartier provided some unexpected humor over the long Memorial Day weekend after the company filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Apple regarding two iPhone apps. The lawsuit and the quick response by Apple were covered by the Wall Street Journal in several posts and noted briefly in our weekend news roundup.
A small iPhone development shop, Digitopolis Game Studio, had created two apps — Fake Watch and Fake Watch Gold Edition — that showed the time on a choice of high-end timepieces. Among the “watches” were images of Cartier’s luxury “Tank” watch. Although the free Fake Watch app had first appeared in January of 2009, Cartier apparently didn’t notice until Friday, when lawyers representing the company filed suit against Apple for allowing the apps to be sold in the App Store.
Apple’s response was quick; they pulled the apps from the U.S. App Store almost immediately. Cartier responded late Friday by withdrawing their lawsuit, stating that their “concerns had been addressed”.
What do you think? Did Cartier have a valid concern that their trademark was being infringed upon or do you think they ought to spend more time chasing down the guys selling Cartier knockoffs in Times Square? Leave your comments below.
TUAWCartier kerfuffle bags bogus bangles originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 25 May 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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