Apple Loses Exclusive Rights To 'iPhone' Trademark For Non-Smartphone Products In China (appleinsider.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from AppleInsider: Adding to the company's problems in the region, Apple has lost exclusivity on the use of the "iPhone" trademark in China, and must now share it with Beijing-based leather products maker Xintong Tiandi Technology, reports said on Tuesday. On March 31, the Beijing Municipal High People's Court rejected an Apple appeal of an earlier ruling, according to Quartz. Xintong Tiandi is already selling a number of "IPHONE" products, including purses, passport cases, and most notably phone cases. The company registered its trademark in China in 2007, the same year as the Apple iPhone launched in the United States. That was, however, still five years after Apple registered the iPhone name in China for computer products, something which formed the basis of a 2012 complaint to the country's trademark authorities. In 2013 the government ruled that because Apple couldn't prove the name "IPHONE" was well-known prior to Xintong Tiandi's registration, the public wouldn't link its use in a way that would harm Apple interests. In rejecting Apple's appeal, the High People's Court further noted that the company didn't sell the iPhone in mainland China until 2009. This comes after Apple reported its first earnings decline in more than a decade.

Comments

iPhone vibrators

[Anonymous Coward]

They have such a phony name...

perils of having brands instead of substance

[sittingnut]

when you are, more or less, a marketing company that manage brands, and through media hype can command a premium price for your branded products, over similar products with same quality and features, then, when lose your name, you end up empty.

This is why. . .

[smooth wombat]

you don't do business with or in China. If you think Apple is the only one who will get this treatment, dream on.

China, as we know, has little concept of rights whether human or otherwise. I once read that in China if you get taken advantage of it's your fault, not the person stealing or whatever from you.

Don't buy products made in China. It's the single most effective means to give them the middle finger.

Apple took the name Iphone anyhow.

[Cito]

Those of us on internet in late 90's remember the most popular voice chat software that even worked over dialup. It was hugely popular among ham radio operators as being one of them, we got the ok to setup links to 2 meter and 70cm band repeaters, after not the greatest of verification but it wasn't a disaster.

1995 article on the original iphone: http://www.wired.com/1995/10/i...

it worked damn good over dialup for what it was, even allowed calls to landlines, and ham radio links, it was great for those days, and of course peer 2 peer

1996 college paper on the specifics of Iphone: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~kell...

Example Chinese negotiation

[Neo-Rio-101]

China smiles to you and you sit down at the negotiations:

China: "Here's our proposed deal. You'll give us everything that we want, and in return you'll get nothing and we won't even say thank you. I think you'll see that this is completely fair and equitable."

Re:Example Chinese negotiation

[thegarbz]

China: "Here's our proposed deal. You'll give us everything that we want, and in return you'll get nothing and we won't even say thank you. I think you'll see that this is completely fair and equitable."

You forgot the part about having access to a market of 1/7th of the world's entire population. That's what you get in return, and that's why companies will happily accept those terms.

It proves what I've known for years.

[Mal-2]

This has been known forever, though Apple probably just wanted to make their point although they knew they ultimately could not win.

In a legal battle between a Chinese entity and a foreign entity, Chinese courts always rule on the side of the Chinese entity. Always. Even if they have to come up with the most convoluted legal logic possible to do so. This is one of the warnings we used to give clients when they were considering joint ventures with Chinese companies. "Do you trust them?" (The answer was inevitably "no".) "Can you survive when -- not if -- they screw you over? Because you'll have no recourse when it happens." The only hope of ever seeing legal ramifications is if a company can get another Chinese JV to do the suing.