Apple Recap: Brazil Troubles, Shareholder Votes, Screen-Size Questions

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) finally put an end to its four-day run downward, gaining 3.52 percent to $457.87 on Tuesday despite some worrying reports for the company. Here are the main stories that swirled around it on the day:

iPhone Trouble in Brazil

Apple may have officially lost the right to use the iPhone name to sell its smartphone in Brazil, but the company that owns it exclusively is still open to talks. A local newspaper reported that the Brazilian Institute for Industrial Property had rejected Apple’s request to regain the naming right from electronics firm IGB Eletrônica SA, or Gradiente, which had originally asked for the trademark back in 2000. According to Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, the decision will be announced on February 13. But the chairman of IGB told Bloomberg that while he had not received any ruling information yet, his company would consider selling the naming rights to Apple. “We’re open to a dialogue for anything, anytime,” Eugênio Emilio Staub said on Tuesday. “We’re not radicals.”

Gradiente had earlier warned it may go after Apple for copyright infringement, saying it would take “all the measures used by companies around the world” to preserve its intellectual property rights. “The two brands can’t coexist in the market,” Staub told The Wall Street Journal in December. “It’s up to Apple to make a move”… (Read more)