Apple, which lost the rights to its iPhone trademark in Brazil on Wednesday, is, as expected, challenging the ruling by Brazil’s copyright regulator to prevent local firm Gradiente Eletronica SA from using the “iphone” brand name, reports “Reuters” (http://tinyurl.com/awn462e).
Brazilian regulators have ruled that Apple doesn’t have exclusive rights to use the “iPhone” trademark in the country. The decision is the result of a local company, Gradiente Eletronica, registering the name in 2000, seven years before the US firm.
A spokesman for Apple declined to comment.
Gradiente, a Brazilian electronics company, had first requested to trademark “iPhone” as their brand back in 2000 before Apple’s smartphone was unveiled. Last week the Brazilian Institute for Industrial Property (INPI) gave Gradiente that exclusivity in 2008 for their G-Gradiente iPhone, which runs the Android operating system.
In order to keep its trademark rights, Gradiente will need to prove to the regulator in the next 60 days that it made use of the trademark between January 2008 and January 2013, INPI said late on Wednesday. Brands in Brazil must be developed within five years of gaining approval, notes “Reuters.”
