Apple loses rights to iPhone trademark in Brazil

BRASILIA (AFP) – 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.

The US high tech giant had 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.

Its first iPhone family model, the Neo One, went on sale in December with a  price tag of around $300 while Apple’s iPhone 5 – also launched in December -  retails for more than triple the price.

Both Apple and Gradiente refused to comment on the INPI ruling.

Gradiente President Eugenio Emilio Staub made it clear in December that his  company would “take all measures to ensure the preservation of our intellectual  property rights in our country.”

Gradiente’s exclusivity rights expire in 2018.