Apple loses Chinese lawsuit over iPhone name

This Feb. 17, 2016 file photos an iPhone is seen in Washington. (Carolyn Kaster / AP Photo)

BEIJING - Apple Inc. has lost a legal fight with a Chinese company that a Beijing court says is allowed to use the iPhone name on wallets and handbags.

The court said Apple failed to prove iPhone was a "famous brand" in China before the local company applied for a trademark in 2007, an official legal newspaper reported. Such status under Chinese law might limit its use on other products.

The ruling in late April allows Xintong Tiandi Technology to keep using the iPhone name, according to the Legal Daily, which is published by the ruling Communist Party's legal affairs committee. The company registered the name for use on handbags, mobile phone cases and other leather goods.

Phone calls to the Beijing Higher Level People's Court were not answered.

China is Apple's second-biggest market after the United States, though first-quarter sales in the Greater China region fell 26 per cent from a year earlier.

Apple's iTunes and iBooks services also have been suspended in China, though the company said last month it hopes to resume operation soon.

Apple applied to trademark iPhone for computer- and software-related goods in 2002, according to the Legal Daily.

Xintong Tiandi applied to use the name on wallets and leather goods two years before Apple's smartphones went on sale in China in 2009, it said.

Apple filed suit in 2012 challenging the Chinese company's use of the name.