According to the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) Trademark Office, Apple failed in another legal attempt to prevent HUAWEI Technologies from using the “MatePod” name, this time for a pair of earplugs.
According to a document recently released by the State Intellectual Property Office, Apple opposes the Shenzhen-based company’s use of the “HUAWEI MatePod” brand in the headset category, because the brand is similar to Apple’s trademarks Pod, iPod, EarPods, and AirPods.
Apple claims that HUAWEI “maliciously copied” Apple’s trademark, which may have a negative impact on society. This argument did not prove that the trademark authority was convincing. The trademark authority ruled in September that there was “not enough evidence” to prove that HUAWEI’s application was a copycat. Although HUAWEI obtained the MatePod trademark, Apple still has the right to further appeal to CNIPA to revoke the decision.
HUAWEI declined to comment, and Apple did not respond to a request for comment. The State Intellectual Property Office admitted in the ruling that the trademarks of the two companies are similar in terms of functions, sales channels, and target consumers, and the English spellings are different, the pronunciation is different, and the overall appearance is different. Therefore, the trademarks of the two companies on similar products are not similar.
The State Intellectual Property Office determined that “coexistence will not cause consumer confusion.” On Saturday, China’s internal technical communications agency also rejected another attempt by Apple to prevent HUAWEI from using the MatePod name.
