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Firm Owning 'IPHONE' Trademark in Brazil Open to Selling Mark to Apple
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You do have to actually use the trademark in order to turn it from TM to R (Registered).
But it looks like they've done so if they've produced the phone in the picture.
What he said: "We're open to a dialogue for anything, anytime ..."
What he meant: "We can't sell any of our iPhone rip-offs. Please give us some money."
What he meant: "We can't sell any of our iPhone rip-offs. Please give us some money."
Surely this post is racist?
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I actually read that the highest cell phone ownership per capita was in the Republic of Ireland?
No way. They made a lot of dumbphones in the Nokia golden years. After that, around 2005, they entered in a concordat which has just finished so it's natural that they'll do something with the brands they had - legally - registered.
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Neither US or UK. Perhaps in Bhutan.
I had a dual tape-deck from Gradiente in the 90's, really nice, with a lot of inputs and outputs, noise reduction mechanisms, etc. A bit less expensive and as good as Sony decks of the time. Sadly, Gradiente profits couldn't grow as fast as the market claimed, so it went into bankruptcy in mid 2000s.
Also, it made really nice cell phones in late 90s and early 2000s like the Chroma and Strike models (in partnership with Nokia).
http://press.nokia.com/2000/10/20/n...in-brazilian-manufacturing-joint-venture-ngi/
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If you were brazilian you should know that Gradiente made some pretty decent products until 2000 - remember "Meu Primeiro Gradiente" or "Laser Boy" or a lot of pretty good sound systems paired with Sharp and Sony. No, you're not brazilian.
I wonder how feasible, cost-wise, it would be for Apple to brand the iPhone5 and its packaging differently for Brazil.
For example, say, just use thesymbol instead of the i.
This would make them highly collectible as well (due to their uniqueness), and possibly drive sales even further.
Otherwise, Apple is just going to pay up, start selling it, and get on with making the money back in less than 1 quarter....
EDIT: Whoops! Someone beat me to it...
If Apple increase like $30-50 for each phone they sell for paying royalties to Gradiente it won't be a big issue. Basic iPhone costs something like $1200,00 here, it won't be a $50 increase that will impede consumers from buying it. Although naming Apple's iPhone as
Phone would be pretty nice.I wonder how feasible, cost-wise, it would be for Apple to brand the iPhone5 and its packaging differently for Brazil.
For example, say, just use the
This would make them highly collectible as well (due to their uniqueness), and possibly drive sales even further.
Otherwise, Apple is just going to pay up, start selling it, and get on with making the money back in less than 1 quarter....
EDIT: Whoops! Someone beat me to it...
Man, I don't know in the rest of the world, but this is illegal here in Brazil. You can't register an image or other odd symbol as part of a trademark's name - though it's ok to do it for the trademark itself.The name must be readable, and although you do recognize
as "Apple", the technology company, it could also be interpreted as "apple", fruits, for instance.Now back to the topic. Gradiente is indeed a company in trouble. In the 90's and early 2000's it was an important player here in Brazil that, as many others, simply failed to adapt to the changing times.
The only reason for them to be releasing that "iphone" of theirs is because their license would expire in the next weeks - you can't just register a trademark and pass it to your grandsons, right? Probably they couldn't strike a deal with Apple before because of the bankrupt process and to force Apple to pay them they release that giant, obsolete Android calculator. This automatically fixes the expiring brand to the product, and they can own it as long as they manufacture more of it.
Still, I'd like to see Apple changing the "iPhone" name here in Brazil, just to see this ridiculous extort attempt going nowhere, but I guess it's far more likely that they will end this up with a deal of some sort...
The button-free all-glass interface.
You know, like the original 2007 iPhone. Remember the impact that phone had?
Yeah, it's still the phone everyone else is ripping off.
Oh, and speaking of rip-offs, here's the original Android rip-off of Palm / BlackBerry:
And here's that photo on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Android_mobile_phone_platform_early_device.jpg
Android (even before they were bought by Google) simply copied the best currently-available
smartphones. And that meant copying Palm / BlackBerry. Chiclet keyboard and all.
Of course, the first iPhone obsoleted all that legacy 20th century design-think. So, naturally,
Google immediately began copying iOS' UI and their hardware partners immediately began copying
iPhone's hardware design. Still are.
Yup. Any complaints? No?
Well, if you have any problem with the photo or the article, please contact Wikipedia. (Yeah. Right.)
I'm sure they'd be thrilled to have more accurate photos of whatever smartphone
Android / Google originally copied.
Story by Read Write: http://readwrite.com/2008/02/13/android_prototypes
Original photo:
Wikipedia page with photo I originally posted (if you have any legitimate complaints. Lulz.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Android_mobile_phone_platform_early_device.jpg
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You can post more pictures, you still be wrong. But i think that you already know that because it has been explained to you many times so trying to argue with you will be a waste of time.
Have a good day spreading FUD
Have a good day trying to defend Google's blatant copying with illogic and denial.
Oh, and if you think Wikipedia is wrong, you're free to update the page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Android_mobile_phone_platform_early_device.jpg