Chinese company can use ‘iPhone’ brand name, court rules

May03

by Sindy Cator on May 3, 2016 at 6:05 pm

Apple and Xintong Tiandi, a Chinese company that makes leather goods, have been fighting in Chinese courts since 2012 over the latter’s use of a brand name Apple feels it owns: ‘iPhone.’ While it seems like a no-brainer to allow Apple sole exclusive rights to a product that it made famous throughout the world, it wasn’t actually the first to trademark the name — technically speaking. Although Apple filed for the trademark in 2002, it wasn’t officially approved until 2013 under ‘Class 9: Electrical and Scientific Apparatus.’ In 2007, Xintong Tiandi applied for the same trademark under ‘Class 18: Leather…