Famed Swiss watch maker Swatch has recently said that it’s not too eager to make smartwatches of its own, and it won’t compete against the range of such devices that will invade stores this year. However, it appears that the Switzerland-based watchmaker is still somewhat afraid of Apple’s upcoming iWatch. The company is apparently trying to trademark the iWatch product name, in order to better defend a device of its own that’s called iSwatch, Watson reports.
“We assess the likelihood of confusion as given, the marks are confusingly similar,” the company told the publication, adding that it’ll fight for the trademark in all regions where the iSwatch is sold.
This isn’t the first time Swatch has fought against a company trying to get the iWatch trademark, as in 2007 is objected against the registration of the iWatch trademark by New York-based company MZ Berger.
So far, Apple has been discovered to have registered the iWatch trademark in many markets, including Japan, Mexico, Turkey, with a recent report revealing the company may have used a dummy corporation it used before for different trademarks to pursue the iWatch trademark in plenty of other markets, including the U.S. Furthermore, Apple has further strengthened its Apple trademark to cover wearable devices including smartwatches.
Apple is expected to unveil an iWatch smartwatch later this year, with the device expected to pack plenty of health- and fitness-related features.
An image showing Swatch’s iSwatch product follows below.
