Did you know that there is another brand besides Apple that fights for the right to use the brand? iPhone in Brazil? Yes, that’s right! Steve Jobs’ multinational has been facing a legal dispute for 11 years and this clash Apple versus Gradient doesn’t seem to be close to ending.
It turns out that Gradiente, a Brazilian electronics company, registered the name back in the 2000s. Since then, this story has become increasingly complicated.
The case is expected to be decided by the Supreme Federal Court (STF) on June 2. According to information from the newspaper The globeministers will have until June 12 to make a decision and vote.
Apple vs. Gradient: understand the dispute over the iPhone brand
The dispute over the iPhone brand between the Brazilian company and the North American giant is quite old. As already mentioned, this story began back in the 2000s, when Gradiente registered the name “iPhone” (with a capital “I” and a lowercase “P”).
However, the application took eight long years to be approved by the National Institute of Intellectual Property (INPI). Approval came in 2008, one year after the launch of Apple’s first iPhone in the United States.
Coincidentally or not, that same year the American company started selling its iPhones in Brazil and applied for trademark registration here. However, the company had its application denied by INPI due to the registration already made previously by Gradient.
At the time, the Brazilian brand was facing financial problems and only launched its first smartphone in 2012. Since then, the issue has become the subject of legal battles that have even threatened the sale of Apple iPhones in Brazil.
Then, in early 2010, Apple filed a request to cancel Gradiente’s registration of the iPhone trademark with the INPI and was successful. However, Gradiente appealed this decision and, consequently, the case was disputed in other judicial instances.
The case is currently under review by the Supreme Federal Court. The issue is considered special and important for Gradiente, since last week the company announced the end of its judicial recovery. The case began in 2018 with a debt of R$976.5 million.
If Gradiente’s appeal is accepted, Apple may be forced to pay a percentage of the amounts earned from sales of all iPhones already sold in Brazil.
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