Apple, the tech company, wants to trademark apple, the fruit

Switzerland is the stage for a strange trademark battle. The main characters are the Fruit Union Suisse, a 111-year-old fruit farmer's organization in Switzerland and Apple, the world's most valuable company. Apple wants intellectual property rights over apples, the fruit. Apple submitted an application before the Swiss Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) for IP rights over a realistic, black-and-white depiction of an apple variety called Granny Smith, or green apple.