Apple's iPhone lost to MyPhone in trademark case

The locally made my|phone cannot be mistaken for the iPhone of tech giant Apple, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) said in a recently released decision on a trademark case.
The case, filed in June 2009 by Apple Inc. against then Philippine-based startup Solid Broadband Corporation, opposed the mark "my|phone" for its being "identical" to the well-known iPhone.
In a decision penned May 19, the IPO said it is not sufficient to say consumers will be confused with the two marks.
"To the eyes, there is striking different between the words 'I' and 'MY'. There is resemblance as to the sound ... However, they are still distinct," lawyer Nathaniel Arevalo, director IV of the IPO's bureau of legal affairs said.
Apple claimed my|phone is "confusingly similar" and "virtually indistinguishable" to the "IPHONE" mark, and could be "likely to deceive or cause confusion."
"This is plainly apparent from a simple comparison of the marks. The combination of the element '/', which looks like a slanted letter 'I', with the word 'PHONE' to form /phone ... makes it identical in terms of appearance," the California-based company said.

Solid Broadband, however, argued that it has remained and maintained to be a Philippine and not an international brand, even employing local celebrity endorsers for it.
"This is a case of giant trying to claim more territory that what it is entitled to, to the great prejudice of a local 'Pinoy Phone' merchant who has managed to obtain a significant foothold in the mobile phone market," Solid Broadband said.
It also claimed that my|phone has a "very distinctive trademark" and has "absolutely no confusing similarity" with the iPhone.
Arevalo said, however, that the marketing campaigns of the two companies also bring "no likelihood of confusion of business."
"It is improbable for one who is buying or using my|phone products to be reminded of the mark iPhone," the IPO lawyer said, dismissing the case.
"The buying public should be credited with a modicum of intelligence and discernment in purchasing articles, such as gadgets and mobile phone," he added.
He argued that brand patronage or consciousness is prevalent in purchasing mobile phones.
The public is also unlikely to believe that my|phone is an Apple product since the American company has consistently been using the letter "I" or "i" for its products. 

Source: PhilStar