Apple sees another legal set-back in its legal tussles with Swatch

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Apple’s bid to stop watch company Swatch using the phrase “one more thing” in Australia has failed, despite the tech giant arguing the term was synonymous with its iconic co-founder Steve Jobs.

Apple argued at an Australian Trade Marks Office hearing that Swatch should not be allowed to use its trademark over the phrase, and in turn applied for its own Australian trademark over the term.

However, hearing officer Adrian Richards ruled against Apple and ordered it to pay Swatch’s legal costs. Jobs would often use the term in his keynote speeches to announce new Apple products, saving the best for last as he prepared to introduce “one more thing.”

This is the second legal set-back for Apple against Swatch. In 2017, Apple sued Swatch for its “Tick different” ad campaign, which the Cupertino, California-based company said was a rip-off of its former “Think different” campaign. But a Swiss court has backed the watchmaker.

In a ruling released on April 2, the Federal Administrative Court agreed, saying Apple hadn’t produced documents that sufficiently backed up its case, reports Reuters. Responding to Apple’s accusations two years ago, Swatch CEO Nick Hayek said any similarity between the two campaigns is coincidental. Hayek asserts “Tick different” has its roots in a Swatch campaign from the ’80s that carried the phrase “Always different, always new.”