Yeah, Airphone really doesn't sounds like iPhone! in English but in Japanese ...? Ah So! Aiiii! You have to give the points for trying lol

Dealing with a phonetically identical name is not Apple's biggest hurdle in Japan by a longshot. Nobody cares about the company 'aiphone' in Japan anyway.

Apple's biggest issue in Japan is dealing the monopolistic monoliths that run Japan's 3 major (OK 2 major, and one pretender) mobile service providers. They won't let Apple get anything near the cut they have in the US without jacking up the price to ridiculous levels. A good example of this is how the Japan iTunes store took years to negotiate and get running, and how its prices are nearly double that of other iTunes stores.

The second issue is that Apple will actually have to put a modern radio in its phones. Nobody here in Japan uses archaic technology like GSM anymore - it's all CDMA and faster protocols. OK, you can use the inexpensive PHS phone network, but that service has lots of problems away from the big cities and isn't particularly fast.

My bet is that it will take 3 years for the iPhone to show up here, if at all. And by then, we'll have plenty of iPhone knockoffs that will do the job for most people.

'aiphone'.. is that Ali-G?

If phonetic trademarks were an issue, Mars, Inc. would have sued Marshall Mathers a long time ago for his use of the name Eminem.

I assume you're referring to SoftBank as the pretender company. I would have thought they'd be the most likely partner for Apple in Japan because they're on a drive for growth, they're the most Western-friendly company and well, so far they seem to be thinking, er....different: the Y1000 White Plan has generated the highest sign-up rate of all the carriers recently AND they've got the tie-in with Yahoo regarding email etc on the phone - just like Apple. Even their stores, all white and bright, seem like a complement to Apple's retail look.

I think Jobs said next year for 'Asia' anyway, so that gives them enough time to build a 3G handset - this is surely inevitable anyway sooner rather than later, unlikely to be 3 years.

And I'm sure that while the knockoffs will precede the iPhone here, when it DOES become available, you'll read all about it and they'll be very visible. I think Apple has a pretty high presence in Japan - for a foreign company. I remember a few years ago when the iPod minis debuted, there were a number of Subway stations here in Osaka decked out in Apple Ads, as well as some of the trains. hell, they've even got their own Mac/PC guy TV ads: http://www.apple.com/jp/getamac/

Homonym = infringement?

Quick, someone locate the inventor of the EyePhone and let him know!

Actually Homophone tradmarks are challenged quote often. IMNAL, but I believe the general test for them is to show that the trademarks are substantially in the same realm of usage ( i.e. business ), and that damages would occur to the business if the trademarks were to be confused by the consumer.

For instance, it's ok for your Shoe company to come out with a shoe line called "Flash", even if Intel or some other chip manufacturer had trademarked "Flash". If, however, Intel came out with a Chip called "Hexium" and AMD cam out with a chip and called it "X-E-M", Intel would likely win that case because X-E-M could cause consumer confusion by sounding similar to "Hexium" and they are directly competing against each other.
That is a case where the infringment is clear.

This company is arguing that since they are in "kind of" the same business... they have two way radio devices, intercoms, etc, they will suffer damage. They deal in voice. Kind of weak if you ask me, but I can see how they would legitmately fear losing business simply on the popularity of "iPhone". They are worried that their name will get pushed into obsurity simply because of the exposure iPhone will get.

Think about it this way: Say you are a very successful company in your own right, but your products are not sold to the consumer directly. Your products are well known in the industry, but outside of that, your name is stuggling for recognition. You are trying to expand your business and get your name out there and along comes a big company that makes a product that *IS* directed at the consumer and is a sensational success. From now on, no one will ever remember your comapny. The public might even start to think that you may have taken your name to capitalize on the success of the big product.
See what I mean?

Also as others have brought up here, there may be even more significant overlap if the two sound the same in Japanese, which is quite likely noting their somewhat constricted vowel sounds and absense of dipthongs. [ I am also not a linguist. ]

Just some thoughts... they could also just be in it for the money

hasnt apple tradmarked the phrase iphone since like 1995 or somthing or do i just have a bad memory.



Also, if apple really cared, couldnt they sue every company that ever used the phrase iAnything

Its crazy how many companies use things like iPlayer, iHome, iCaught and 100s of other stupid names like that.

Aiphone predates iPhone by a long time.

While "aiphone" sounds just like "iphone" in Japanese (and English), the issue may depend upon whether or not "Aiphone" is registered in the Roman alphabet in Japan. I assume it is since the company uses that mark on its products in Japan, as opposed to presenting it written with a Japanese alphabet.

An interesting similar case occured in the 70's (?) when Playboy and a Japanese magazine "Pureiboi" fought over the Playboy trademark. Pureiboi was written in katakana, a Japanese phonetic alphabet, and the courts in Japan found it was significantly different from "Playboy" and not a copyright infringement, though when pronounced in Japanese "Playboy" and "Pureiboi" are identical.

It is just another poor attempt at publicity or easy money from some pathetic non-innovative company. There are those of us that work hard to make money, and others who sue those who work hard to make money.