China Court Rejects Apple Watch Trademark Appeal

(Beijing) — Apple Inc. has lost a second bid to trademark its Apple Watch logo, as a Beijing court said on Thursday that the logo looks too much like a generic home screen seen on many smartphones and watches.

In rejecting Apple's appeal of a previous ruling, Beijing's Intellectual Property Court said the tech giant's trademark is "overly complicated" and that the public would tend to recognize it as an image of the watch's home screen rather than a trademark.

Apple first tried in November 2015 to register the logo, which is a square showing an assortment of apps visible on the Apple Watch's interface.

China trademark commission turned down Apple's initial request earlier this year, concluding that the logo consisted of complicated shapes and was not distinct enough to qualify as a trademark.

Apple had maintained that the icon had been widely used in its marketing, and was acknowledged by the public as a symbol of the Apple Watch product line. It also pointed out that its registered Macintosh trademark employed a similar design consisting of many smaller shapes.

Dissatisfied with the initial rejection, Apple appealed the decision. Apple officials were unable to be reached for comment after the latest ruling.

This is the second time Apple has lost a trademark case this year. In May, a Chinese court granted the iPhone trademark to a Beijing maker of wallets and other leather goods, despite Apple's objections. The tech giant pledged to request a retrial with the Supreme People's Court.

Contact reporter April Ma (fangjingma@caixin.com ); editor Doug Young (dougyoung@caixin.com)