A Mexican telecommunications firm named iFone has declared victory in a
trademark battle with Apple's iPhone, exposing the US company to a
potential compensation payment.
The Mexican firm said in a statement
that a court denied Apple's bid to protect the iPhone name in a case
that began in 2009, when iFone sued the California-based company because
the similar-sounding names caused confusion.
Apple introduced the
iPhone to the Mexican market in 2007, four years after the Mexican
telecom services and systems company says it registered the name iFone.
"It
is the third time that Apple loses and this demonstrates the legal
truth iFone is within its full right to use its brand," the statement
said.
The lawyer for iFone, Eduardo Gallart, was quoted as saying
in Milenio newspaper on Saturday that Apple will have to compensate the
Mexican company for the use of the iPhone name.
An amount has not
been decided but Gallart said the law sets a floor rate of 40 percent of
the sale price of a service that is found to have violated the rules.
A message to Apple's media relations office was not returned.