The Apple Does Not Fall Far From the Tree

It is well known that Steve Jobs "borrowed" the Graphical User Interface ("GUI") for its Mac from Xerox.  Legend has it that he also "borrowed" the mouse from Xerox, too.  Apparently, Steve Jobs visited Xerox who was showing off their GUI, but decided not to exploit it. So, Steve Jobs exploited the idea and made Apple's Mac a household name.  Now, with the launch of the iPhone 5, it appears that Apple may have "borrowed" the clock of the Swiss rail company for its iPad/iPhone clock app.  Swiss Federal Railways licenses the clock design from watchmaker, Mondaine. 

Here is the iconic Swiss rail clock: 

 

And, Apple's new clock app clock:

Needless to say, the Swiss Federal Railways are suing Apple for trademark infringement.  Just another lawsuit to add to the litany of them involving Apple.  Seems a bit ironic that Apple owes much of its "innovation" to others, but seems hellbent on chasing Samsung all over the world with lawsuits.  Steve Jobs proclaimed that Google's Android was a "stolen product," meaning that he accused Google of stealing his smartphone. 

A purpose of intellectual property law is to foster innovation and creativity by allowing someone to take advantage of their innovation for a limited time.  Then, it falls into the  "public domain" so that others can use that innovation and improve upon it.  Sometimes it is just a fine line between stealing another's intellectual property and innovation.