Apple wins the right to use iPhone name in Brazil

By Chris O’Brien

Sept. 25, 2013 12 AM PT

As we wrote earlier this summer, Apple faces a number of challenges in the smartphone market in Brazil.

But one of them appears to have been cleared.

A Brazilian judge has ruled that Apple has the right to use the iPhone name in Brazil, according to BNamericas, a Latin American business news agency. The decision overturns another ruling from INPI, the country’s intellectual property agency.

Earlier this year, INPI ruled that a Brazilian company called Gradiente owned the rights to the name. Gradiente was granted the name years ago but came out with a product called an “iPhone” only in December 2012.

The parent company that owns Gradiente says it plans to appeal the latest decision.

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