Apple Inc. has lost hope to continue its fight for keeping the ‘iPhone’ name directly to the products with a Beijing court which decided a small number of known accessories maker can use the label for more wallets and purses.
State publication Legal Daily reported that the ruling affirmed that Xintong Tiandi Technology (Beijing) Ltd. has the right to use the name on a number of luxurious leather goods. While Apple defeats the company’s efforts to gain full ownership of the given name in the world’s largest mobile market by keep maintaining the trademark for mobile devices. It is also for the second time it has lost effective and exclusive use in China of a coined brand name.
According to Legal Daily, Xintong holds a Class 18 trademark running the gamut of leather and model leather goods, from smartphone cases to products that Apple has never rolled out just like wallets and clutches, The Beijing court decision stick to a 2013 ruling that pointed to the fact that the iPhone had only been linked to products outside of China when the Chinese company sought its trademark in September 2007 and Apple didn’t start selling its iconic iPhones in the country until 2009. Apple saw a decline till to comment ahead of a formal statement.
Xintong Tiandi confirmed the court ruling on its website and said that in essence, the decision represented a victory for free consumer markets, for, he uses the all-capital IPHONE label on its products.
This decision is expected to hurt the U.S. company that faced a similar issue over the iPad trademark. In 2012, Apple paid $60 million to Proview International Holdings Ltd. to settle a dispute over the right to the iPad name in China.
Ted Chwu, a partner, and a lawyer having specialization in intellectual property at Bird & Bird in Hong Kong said that Apple could state an appeal regarding this case to the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing and they will probably do so. “If you’ve got the budget to make a huge commercial splash then you should expect that splash to attract attention in the wrong way.”, said Ted Chwu.
Now, it came about the ruling that it is the latest in a series of setbacks for the world’s largest technology company in China, where its book and movie services were blocked in April for not abiding by foreign publishing norms and regulations. It comes into notice that in 2013, the state media accused the company of poor customer service and inappropriate warranties without delaying an apology from Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook.
However, Chwu said that Chinese courts are now more familiar at understanding intellectual property issues, they are hard-headedly struggling to control the influx of applications from all over the world.
In his words, “Just keeping up with the pace of growth with the Chinese economy and the filing of trademarks as companies in China get more IP savvy is a great challenge,”.
Greater China which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong is Apple’s largest overseas market responsible for about 25 percent of revenue. It’s of great importance to a company that is facing its decline in sales by twice over a decade.