No Apple iPhone in Brazil
2013-02-13 18:15
Brasilia - Regulators in Brazil on Wednesday rejected Apple's application to
register its iPhone trademark in the country, having already recognised a
local manufacturer's claim to the name.
The Institute of
Industrial Property (INPI) "denied Apple registration of the iPhone
trademark," the institute's press office told AFP. The decision was
officially published by the INPI.
Apple had applied for exclusive
rights to the iPhone name in Brazil in 2007 when it launched the wildly
popular smartphone in the huge Latin American market.
But
Brazilian manufacturer Gradiente SA had applied to register the brand
"Gradiente iphone" in 2000, and was granted rights to it in 2008.
Apple
can still sell its smartphones in Brazil with the iPhone name, but
Gradiente has the option of suing for exclusivity, the institute said.
Apple
petitioned the institute to cancel Gradiente's trademark, arguing that
it had expired because the company had not used it in five years, the
institute said.
But Gradiente surprised the market by launching a "Gradiente iphone" at the end of the year, bringing the dispute to a head.
At
the end of 2012, a Mexican court ruled in favour of the Mexican
telecommunications firm Ifone in a similar trademark dispute with Apple.
