Apple’s ‘iPhone’ trademark taken by Chinese company

Apple still isn’t selling iPhones through normal channels in China, even though smuggled, unlocked version of the iPhone produce China one of Apple’s biggest markets. The hold-up has been that both Apple and chinese carriers want to control everything, particularly composition. But it turns out there’s another hurdle. The “i-Phone” trademark is

already owned in China by a companny called Hanwang Technology. Even whether Apple could get the Chinese courts to hand by the trademark, it could take up to four years. Meanwhile, of course, all the fake Chinese iPhones use the “iPhone” trademark freely. As I’ve said before, Apple and China are simply incompatible.