Apple has just lost a legal attempt to prevent Huawei from trademarking the name “MatePod.” The company sought to block this trademark in China but the CNIPA (Trademark Office of the China National Intellectual Property Administration) rejected the attempt.

According to an SCMP report, iPhone maker was seeking to prevent the MatePods trademark due to its similarity with its own branding trademarks. This includes product lines that use the term Pod such as iPod, EarPods, and AirPods. The Cupertino based company argued that the Chinese tech giant had “maliciously copied” its trademark, which could even have a negative impact on society.

However, this argument did not sway the CNIPA, which ruled in favor of Huawei. The trademark authority further added that there was “insufficient evidence” that proved Huawei’s applications to be copies. Notably, Huawei was also granted the MatePod trademark, although, Apple still has the right to file for additional appeals to CNIPA to go back on this decision. Unfortunately, Huawei declined to comment on the matter, while Apple has yet to respond to SCMP’s request for a comment.

The ruling from CNIPA did acknowledge the similarities between both firms in aspects like “functionalities, sales channels and target consumers.” However, “the spelling of the trademarks are different, and the differentiations in pronunciation and the overall appearance are distinct. Therefore, the trademarks of the two companies are not similar trademarks on similar products and the coexistence would not cause confusion among the consumers.”

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In 2018, Huawei had launched FreeLace wireless headset alongside the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro flagship phones. In September, the company unveiled the Mate 30 series and it also announced the FreeBuds wireless earbuds as a rival product for Apple AirPods. The Chinese firm has trademarked the “MatePod” moniker with European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). It seems like the company has a trademarked the new for its new earbuds that may go official with the P40 and P40 Pro phones.

The trademark for MatePod was filed with EUIPO on Jan. 6. The same name was also trademarked with Intellectual Property Office (IPO) in the U.K on the same date. The product category in which the MatePod has been classified includes headsets; earphones; speakers; computer hardware; tablet; smartphones; handheld digital electronic devices capable of providing access to the internet and for sending, receiving, and failing telephone calls, electronic mail, and other digital data ‘.

The MatePod sounds quite similar to Huawei’s Android tablet lineup – MatePad. Probably, the Chinese manufacture could be planning to replace the FreeLace / FreeBuds names with MatePod. It is just being speculated that the new MatePod headset may debut alongside the P40 series of flagship phones that are expected to go official in March. There is a possibility that the MatePod may break cover later this year along with the Mate 40 series smartphones.

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In related news, a reliable tipster had claimed Huawei is planning to launch three flagship phones with P40 branding. These include standard, pro and lite. The leakster also claimed that there could be a Porsche Design edition or Max variant too. While the rumor mill has leaked details on the P40 and P40 Pro models, past reports have claimed that the P40 Lite could be a midranger and a rebranded version of the Huawei Nova 6 SE. However, the tipster has claimed that the lite model is also a flagship phone. Hopefully, more details on the specs of the third member of P40 family will be revealed in the coming days.

A recently seen render of the P40 Pro revealed that it has a dual-edge curved display with a punch-hole at its top-left corner for the dual front-facing cameras. The size of the display could be 6.5 or 6.7 inches. The back panel of the phone a rectangle-shaped camera module. It comprises of five cameras along with LED flash. It is speculated that the rear camera system includes such as a wide-angle lens, a cine lens, a ToF (Time of Flight) sensor, a periscope lens with 10x optical zoom support and a fifth lens that could be a telephoto sensor with up to 9x optical or ultrawide lens. The P40 and P40 Pro will be equipped with Kirin 990 5G chipset and Android 10 OS.

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(source)

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