Apple presented iPhone in China market and expanded the popularity of this smartphone across the world. Customers knew that iPhone was created and released by Apple [the ‘fruit’ giant shared its Q2, 2016 earnigs report]. However there are reports that say the ‘fruit’ giant loses its exclusive rights to iPhone trademark in China.
Apple tried to appeal to local court to keep the iPhone trademark China option however the court rejected this request. It happened in the end of March. In other words, you can find iPhone in the Chinese market that is not manufactured by Apple. We are mainly talking about non-smartphone products offered to local customers.
There is a Chinese company that has been selling iPhone products ever since 2007. It was offering wallets, handset cases and other accessories. This is the year when Apple introduced its first iPhone to U.S. market. The company brought its iPhone to China in 2009. It also tried to get exclusive trademark rights in the local market stating that iPhone is the product of Apple and not Tiandi.
Apple cannot prove that its iPhone word was popular before Tiandi registered this name as its accessory products [Apple has issues with iTunes and iBooks Store in China these days]. Customers, as court believes, couldn’t link iPhone to Apple smartphones only back then and this is the reason why Apple lost this case and couldn’t keep the exclusive rights to the name of its extremely popular smartphone.
If you visit China and see iPhone case or other accessory you should keep in mind that the products are manufactured by Tiandi and not Apple. Still the iPhone as smartphone is the only original Apple handset you can officially find in Asia while there are many fake iPhones offered here as well.