Android iPhone may force Apple to buy rights in Brazil
Photo credit: Getty Images | Samsung and Apple, the world's top two smartphone makers, are locked in patent disputes in at least 10 countries as they vie to dominate the lucrative mobile market and win over customers with their latest gadgets. (Sept. 28, 2012)
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A telecommunications analyst says Apple Inc. will most likely eventually agree to pay a Brazilian company for the right to use the iPhone brand in Latin America's biggest country.
Last week, Gradiente SA started selling smartphones with the iPhone brand after winning the legal right to use the name in Brazil. The phone runs on the Android operating system from archrival Google Inc.
Eduardo Tude, president of Brazilian telecommunications consultancy Teleco, said Thursday that the "most likely scenario" is that the two companies will reach an agreement whereby Apple will pay Gradiente for the use of the brand.
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He says Apple would have to agree because it "doesn't want to stop selling its product in Brazil." Apple spokeswoman Maria Parra Rodriguez said the company would not comment on the matter.
