Apple's I-Phone Trademark Case Ends in a Loss for the Company

A brand and its associated trademark is worth a lot to a company since they can monetise it for more profits over a long period of time, however when the brand is used without any fee or without the permission of the company then it becomes a huge problem. Apple Inc were not amused when it emerged that a leather good manufacturing had been using the name of its flagship product the I-Phone in order to brand some its products. The products included regular leather products like handbags and wallets. Xintong Tiandi, the company in question, has been selling leather products with the brand name 'IPHONE' and in fact they had also used the trademark logo that must have comes as a bit of a shock for executives at Apple. 

The company had acquired a trademark for 'IPHONE' leather products back in 2010 and in 2012, Apple Inc were forced to contact the Chinese trademark authority regarding the violation. However, the outcome was not favourable and eventually they had to file a case in Beijing. The verdict that came out a few days back states that Xintong Tiandi can still use the 'IPHONE' brand for its products and it must have come as a huge blow to the company. A spokesman for Apple said, "Apple is disappointed the Beijing Higher People's Court chose to allow Xintong to use the iPhone mark for leather goods when we have prevailed in several other cases against Xintong. We intend to request a retrial with the Supreme People's Court and will continue to vigorously protect our trademark rights.We work hard to make the best products in the world and want to ensure our customers' experience is not compromised by companies who try to profit from using our brand."

The court stated that Apple had entered China in the year 2009 while Xintong Tiandi had acquired the trademark two years prior to that and hence it cannot be proven beyond reasonable doubt that they copied the trademark. The judgements stated that IPhone was not as widely known in China at the time.