No, the slogan Think Different is no longer an exclusive Apple brand. Other companies can also use it: a verdict has decided EUIPO – the European Union Intellectual Property Office. Decision against which Apple had lodged multiple appeals, but which were rejected by the EU Court.
It all started with a marketing campaign by Steelwho ridiculed Apple’s claim, had reformulated the sentence as follows: “Check OtherLike the ticking of clocks.
Apple was in turmoil at the time, but Swatch’s lawyers got the upper hand. In 2016, Swatch had filed three revocation requests for the disputed trademarks with the EUIPO, obtaining full satisfaction. In fact, Apple had not used the Think Different brand for the affected products for five years, as required by the rules, on pain of forfeiture of rights.
The famous Think Different campaign dates back to 1997 and by then the motto had become one of the hallmarks of Apple, just like the bitten apple. But actually, it’s a claim Apple has been using with discontinuity lately. Swatch took advantage of this and apparently had every right to do so.
Apple had attempted to defend the claim’s exclusive use, claiming that more than 50% of consumers associated the phrase with its products. But it wasn’t enough.
Source: Lega Nerd
