Apple Loses Brazilian iPhone Trademark Ruling
Brazilian regulators have ruled that Apple does not have exclusive rights to use the “iPhone” trademark in the country.
But the US tech giant has already lodged an appeal against the decision with the Brazilian regulators.
The ruling is the result of a local company, Gradiente Eletronica, registering the name in 2000, six years before the US firm.
Apple can continue to sell iPhone-branded handsets in Brazil.
But the decision means that Gradiente has an option of suing for exclusivity in South America’s biggest market.
The Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) told the BBC that its decision only applied to handsets, and that the California-based company continued to have exclusive rights to use the iPhone name elsewhere including on clothing, in software and across publications.