RussianRailways
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Daily Update for January 17, 2013
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Apple sued by Russian Railways for trademark infringment
Readers may remember when Apple was sued by Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) over its unauthorized use of the iconic SBB clock in its iPad Clock app. Apple and SSB eventually worked out a licensing agreement and the lawsuit was dropped. Now, however, Apple is being sued by another railway company. Russian Railways is seeking up to US$65,000 from Apple for the unauthorized use of its logo in Railway Tariff, a third-party app sold in the App Store, according to RiaNovosti. The app allows users to track cargo delivery costs and times in Russia. Apple has yet to issue a comment on the latest lawsuit, however it does appear that the company can be legally liable for any copyright infringements of apps in its curated App Store. RT notes that in 2009, Apple was sued by Cartier for using its logo without its permission. Cartier dropped the lawsuit after Apple removed the offending third-party apps from the App Store.
Russian Railways levies trademark infringement against Apple
At this point, we practically expect to see a new legal charge brought against Apple every day of the week, and oftentimes that is indeed the case, but this one is particularly interesting: TechCrunch reports that Russian Railways is charging Apple with trademark infringement, seeking 2 million roubles (roughly US$65,000) in damages. The suit itself is rather vague and avoids citing exactly where Apple is allegedly in the wrong. The statement notes that Apple has infringed on Russian Railways' RZD trademark and used it in pictures on one of its digital marketplaces. TechCrunch points out that this could be due to the use of RZD images on third party apps available for iOS, though it hardly seems appropriate to attack Apple rather than the apps creator. At this time, Apple hasn't issued an official statement on the case.
