“The Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) on Thursday announced it has absolved Apple of wrongdoing in a trademark lawsuit surrounding the iPhone’s infringement of a local telecommunications company marketing the phonetically identical ‘iFone’ brand,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider.
“In its decision, the IMPI found the ‘iPhone’ mark as infringing on Mexico’s iFone trademark, but only as it applies to telecommunications services, reports El Universal,” Campbell reports. “The Mexican IP authority is imposing a monetary fine on local cellular providers that carry the iPhone, including Telcel, Iusacell and Movistar, while the same companies have 15 days to remove ‘iPhone’ branding from all advertising materials.”
“With the ruling in hand, iFone can prepare civil suits to recover damages associated with the telcos’ use of the iPhone mark, if any exist. A prior report noted that the Mexican brand may be able to squeeze out up to 40 percent of profits obtained by selling the iPhone under Mexican law,” Campbell reports. “Alternatively, the Mexican iPhone carriers can appeal the IMPI ruling to the Federal Court of Fiscal and Administrative Justice.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Enjoy your ads for “Apple phones,” Mexico!
Come to think of it, we’re surprised Samsung didn’t use “iFone” for their knockoffs, actually.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
iPhone name in peril in Mexico following Mexican Supreme Court ruling – March 15, 2013
Apple loses right to iPhone brand name in Mexico – November 1, 2012
Maybe Carlos Slim can save some money by simply purchasing iFone company.
He has the cash and then some.
Hmmm, I wonder how their suit went against this phone…
http://www.dx.com/p/ifone-p168c-unlocked-3-5-tri-band-mp3-mp4-pda-gsm-cell-phone-ems-10749#.U49KVdq9KSM
This ruling still has the potential to hurt Apple’s sales.
Did Mexico’s iFone come first?