A few months ago I told you that a Brazilian company holds a trademark patent for the name iPhone and that Apple might have to give up selling that device in that country. I also told you that the Brazilian company launched an Android smartphone called iPhone on the local market, and now we know that she would be willing to sell respective brand to Apple. The Office for Patents and Trademarks in Brazil would announce that Gradiente has the exclusive right to use the brand, and after this announcement Apple will either start negotiations with Gradiente, or it will be sued and lose.
The owner of the iPhone trademark in Brazil, IGB Eletronica SA (IGBR3), said it would consider selling the naming rights to Apple Inc. "We're open to a dialogue for anything, anytime," said Eugenio Emilio Staub, chairman of IGB, in an interview in Sao Paulo. "We're not radicals." Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported today that the institute responsible for granting trademarks in Brazil confirmed that the exclusive rights to the name for mobile phones belong to Gradiente, without saying where it got the information. The decision, originally set to be published today, will be announced on Feb. 13. Staub said he has not been informed of any decisions regarding the trademark.
Gradiente submitted the application to register the iPhone name in 2000, it was approved in 2008, and Apple is in a situation similar to last year when a Chinese company sued it for a similar reason . Apple ended the dispute by paying 60 million dollars to that Chinese company, and in Brazil it may have to pay a rather large amount, even if the local market is not extremely important for the Americans.
