Brazil's highest court to hear 'iPhone' trademark dispute

A Brazilian electronics company has revived a long-running trademark dispute with Apple over the "iPhone" name on Tuesday.

IGB Electronica fought a multi-year legal battle with Apple in an effort to gain exclusive rights to the "iPhone" trademark in Brazil. Now, the case has reached Brazil's Supreme Federal Court after IGB Electronica filed an appeal in late April, according to Portuguese-language site Tecnoblog.

IGB is attempting to appeal a 2018 decision from a lower court that gave both companies the rights to use "iPhone" branding. That decision, in fact, was tied to a previous 2013 court ruling.

Under the name Gradiente, IGB Electronica produced a series of Android devices under the "IPHONE" brand name in 2012.

The Brazilian firm originally registered the trademark in 2000, seven years before Apple's first iPhone. Brazil's National Institute of Industrial Property granted the mark in 2008, when Apple's iPhone was already on shelves.

Apple attempted to unregister IGB Electronica's trademark in 2013, which sparked the current legal dispute.

Tecnoblog notes that the case doesn't yet have a rapporteur and could take "years" to be heard.

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