Brazilian company still claims ownership of 'iPhone' trademark as it awaits trial

As we reported earlier, Apple is facing an intriguing legal dispute in Brazil when it comes to the “iPhone” trademark, as local company Gradiente claims to have patented the name long before Apple. With the case still awaiting a final decision, Gradiente still believes it created the first iPhone.

Apple Disputes the iPhone Trademark in Brazil

In an interview with Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo (via MacMagazine), Gradiente CEO Eugenio Staub explained what he thinks of the dispute between his company and Apple. Staub complained that even Brazilians are accusing Gradiente of taking advantage of the situation to try to extort money from Apple, which he says is not true.

“People look at this story and say, 'Gradiente is a Brazilian company, so it must be a scam, right?' — the executive said.

Staub showed the reporter an old model of the phone called the “Gradiente Iphone,” which was released in Brazil in 2000 — seven years before Apple's iPhone. He also showed some flyers that were used to promote the phone at the time. “We sold 30,000 [devices] in a few months,” Staub said.

However, due to a dispute between Gradiente and another Brazilian company, the “Iphone” trademark was only granted to Gradiente in 2008, a year after Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone. At that time, Gradiente no longer sold phones, but that all changed in 2012 when the Brazilian company announced an Android smartphone called the “Gradiente Iphone”.

Unsurprisingly, Apple asked the Brazilian regulator to invalidate Gradiente’s trademark, which eventually lost its exclusive rights to the “Iphone” trademark in Brazil in 2013. Since then, the two companies have been locked in legal battles and are awaiting a final decision from the Supreme Court. However, Gradiente’s CEO says he has nothing against Apple’s iPhone.

“He [Steve Jobs] released a sensational product. He is the genius of our generation and several generations. But this does not change the fact that we have already released a similar product with the same name,” says the CEO of Gradiente. “The country [Brazil] doesn't recognize many of its own innovations,” he adds.

A final trial date has not yet been announced.