Apples stolen design, but not what you'd think.

[silicon_toad2000]

Apple may be willing to spend millions in court over some copyright fights, but it has learned the lessons of history and has decided not to mess with the Swiss.

Last month, Switzerland's railway operator SBB took Cupertino to task for stealing the design of its clock for iOS 6's Clock app. Now the world's favorite fondleslab manufacturer has agreed to pay up and license the design from SBB, rather than risk the wrath of the Swiss railways.

"For the use of the SBB station clock on devices like iPad and iPhone, the Swiss Federal Railways SBB and Apple have agreed and signed a license agreement," said SBB in a statement. No terms of the deal were announced, showing traditional Swiss reserve on matters of money.

The clock face, which uses a red second hand resembling a railway signal on a monochrome background, was designed for the SBB in 1944 by engineer and designer Hans Hilfiker while the rest of Europe was focusing on other matters. SBB owns the rights to the design, which it says is "a symbol of innovation and reliability is an important identifying feature of the SBB and represents Switzerland."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/12/apple_licenses_swiss_clock/

I guess it's all part of the game...