A Brazilian company has begun flogging Android smartphones under the name of iPhone after winning the legal right to use the name in Latin America's biggest country.
Part of the problem is that Apple’s iPhone name was not exactly innovative and Gradiente thought of it first. The company filed its request to use the iPhone brand in 2000 when it realised "there would be a technological revolution in the world of mobilephones with the convergence of voice and data transmission and reception via mobile Internet."
It too a while but in 2008 Brazil's government gave Gradiente the right to use the brand on its until 2018. Ironically that means that if Apple tries to flog its expensive shiny toys to the tall and tanned and young and lovely of Ipanema they could end up sued for trademark infringement. Gradiente said on its website that it started selling its iPhone on Tuesday for $300. It runs the relatively old 2.3 version of Android and its features include a 3.7-inch touch-sensitive screen, Bluetooth, dual chip capability, 3G, Wi-Fi and camera. It looks a bit like an iPhone but then again anything that looks like a smartphone does.
The Brazilian company said it did not use the iPhone name until now because its "priority was to conclude a corporate restructuring process that ended earlier this year." To give Apple a bigger headache the company might troll Apple over of the use of its name.
Gradiente said this company will adopt all the measures used by companies around the world to preserve its intellectual property rights.