Apple in Brazil trademark dispute Apple is fighting a ruling by Brazilian copyright regulators that could prevent the company from selling its popular iPhone in one of the industry's fastest-growing markets. The Brazilian institute in charge of granting trademarks, Inpi, denied a request by the US company to sell phones under the iPhone brand in Brazil this week as a Brazilian company had already applied to register the name 13 years ago. Apple has declined to comment on the ruling. However, on Thursday Inpi said Apple had formally appealed its decision on the grounds that the Brazilian owner of the brand, IGB Eletrônica, had not made immediate use of the trademark. Inpi's ruling comes at a time when Apple is already struggling to hold on to market share in the face of growing competition from Android phones in Brazil and other emerging markets such as India. With a price tag of about R$2,000 ($1,020) in Brazil, the iPhone is more than three times more expensive than IGB's Iphone and similar models from manufacturers such as Samsung. IGB, or Gradiente as the Brazilian company is known, requested rights to the name "Iphone" in 2000 and was finally awarded them in 2008. Apple only requested rights to the iPhone brand just before it launched the smartphone in 2007. Under Brazilian law, IGB had to use the Iphone brand within five years of being awarded it - something it did not do, claims Apple. However, IGB said it started selling its Iphone in December last year, one month before the deadline. Apple is also likely to try to challenge Inpi's decision in the courts but the most probable outcome is a settlement with IGB, said Diego Almeida, a lawyer specialised in digital law at Patricia Peck Pinheiro Advogados in São Paulo. "Gradiente (IGB) really has the advantage here," he said. "It registered the name before Apple so the most viable way forward for Apple is just to make a deal with them," Mr Almeida said. Apple faced a similar trademark dispute in China over its iPad, reaching a $60m settlement last year. However, Mr Almeida said Apple may be forced to pay a higher amount this time because of the larger market for iPhones. Inpi's ruling does not force Apple to cease sales of iPhones in Brazil but it allows IGB to request a court order to that effect. Although trademark disputes are no more common in Brazil than in other countries, the Latin American nation's unwieldy bureaucracy often complicates matters for companies in these situations, Mr Almeida said. Paperwork, understaffing and lack of digitalisation meant that it took eight years for Inpi to approve IGB's request, whereas a similar application may have taken less than two years in Europe or the US, he said.