James Delahunty
24 Sep 2009 20:32
Finnish mobile handset giant Nokia has found itself in the midst of a legal dispute in Brazil over its Ovi brand. Brazilian firm Ouvi Divulgacao e Marketing em Celulares Ltda claims that Nokia is abusing the Ovi brand in the country to compete directly with Ouvi. Nokia believes the brand, introduced in 2007, is different enough from Ouvi to co-exist, and points out that it is a Finnish word with a different meaning (windows, doors).
"What Nokia apparently has not realized is that the 190 million inhabitants of Brazil speak Portuguese and not Finnish," said Tore Haugland, chief executive of Ouvi told Reuters. "We are sure that the Brazilian court will rule in our favor and we look forward to Nokia removing the Ovi brand from all the phones that have been shipped in Brazil and stopping using and mentioning this brand in Brazil."
Ouvi also registered the ovi.com.br domain name in 2004 because the pronunciation of Ovi and Ouvi in Brazilian Portuguese is the same. "We have our brand name also as part of the company name, which in Brazilian law counts higher than a registered trademark," Ouvi's Haugland said. A court decision on the case is expected any day.