The name ‘IPHONE’ patented back in 2000 and not by Apple?

Reuters reports that the Brazilian company IGB Eletronica SA is to introduce a line of Android-based smartphones under the brand name “IPHONE”. Moreover, according to the same report, the Brazilian company successfully copyrighted this brand name more than a decade ago.

Now, since this is coming from Reuters, it just has to be true! But how come?! Well, we cannot say, and the report does not details on the pre-history of the matter. All it informs about is that the company “applied for exclusive rights in Brazil to register its products under the name IPHONE in 2000.”

As you have noticed, the Brazilian brand is all in capital letters, so it’s not entirely clear whether Apple (AAPL) would be vulnerable to any legal challenges. That’s for the lawyers and the court to decide. It’s however pretty clear that Apple will have no choice by to let IGB brand its devices as IPHONEs.