Apple To Lose iPhone Naming Rights in Brazil, Trademark Owner Open To Settle
February 6, 2013
Apple is about to lose the right over its iPhone trademark in Brazil, according to Reuters.
Apparently, the trademark still belongs to Gradiente Eletronica SA, a local electronics company.
Gradiente registered the trademark in 2000, seven years before the popular Apple device most commonly associated with the name was launched. The Brazilian company obtained the rights for the trademark in 2008.
Now, the Brazilian Institute of Intellectual Property is reportedly set to officially announce, on Feb. 13, Gradiente's retainment of the trademark as it relates to mobile phones.
For years, Apple has been selling the iPhone in Brazil, which is the largest market in Latin America. But IGB Eletronica SA, a company formed as a result of Gradiente's reorganization, launched its "iphone" line of Android phones just last December.
According to Bloomberg, IGB is open to selling the trademark to Apple.
“We’re open to a dialogue for anything, anytime,” IGB chairman Eugenio Emilio Staub said. “We’re not radicals.”
Staub added that IGB hasn't been contacted by Apple regarding the matter.
It appears that Apple has yet another trademark-related settlement to take care of.
In July last year, Apple reached a settlement with Proview in order to resolve the two companies’ long-standing dispute over the iPad trademark in China. The popular iDevice maker agreed to pay the Chinese manufacturer $60 million.
Source: Reuters, Bloomberg
Via: MacRumors
