Apple can not use the IPhone trademark in Samba District

Regulator copyrights and patents Brazil decided Apple can not use the iPhone trademark in Samba District, Wednesday (02/13/2013). IPhone is a trademark owned by the local Brazilian companies also produce mobile phones.

The electronics company is Gradiente Electronica SA, which has exclusive rights first iPhone trademark in Brazil since 2008.

Apple predicted to not remain silent and will oppose the decision. However, a spokesman for Apple in the United States was reluctant to comment on the issue.

Long before Apple market the iPhone in 2007, Gradiente Electronica has filed a trademark registration IPhone Institute of Intellectual Property in Brazil (National Institute of Industrial Property / INPI) in 2000. The company officially get the brand on January 2, 2008 and will manufacture and market the brand in 2018.

They did not immediately put the iPhone brand as being focused on restructuring the organization for continued efforts hampered due to financial problems.

Gradiente Electronica released a series of iPhone smart phone brand Neo One in mid-December 2012. This mobile phone operating system Android. In addition to phones, Gradiente claim one of the first to start a business CD, DVD, and has other interests in TV and video games.

IPhone and iPad trademark dispute

Previous Apple patent dispute related to legal issues with the company's iPhone trademark and service provider of computer networks for the corporate segment, Cisco Systems.

Cisco sued Apple after the iPhone was introduced in the Macworld conference in January 2007. Cisco said Apple approached the company network device several times to negotiate. Both agreed terms in February 2007.

IPad is a trademark name for a tablet computer Apple also had trouble in China since 2010. Proview Technology from Taiwan, who opened the factory and have the iPad trademark in China, sued over iPad trademark and asking Apple to pay cash compensation.

In 1998, Proview began developing computer type All-in-One PC called iPad, stands for Personal Internet Access Device. Proview iPad goes on sale in 2000, ten years earlier than the Apple iPad tablet.

After passing through various legal proceedings and negotiations, the two companies eventually reconciled and Apple to pay 60 million dollars (or approximately USD 560 billion) to "liberate" the name iPad.