It’s only been a week since Apple Vision Pro was revealed to the world, and the mixed-reality headset already has an identity crisis brewing. According to a report by MyDrivers, the moniker “Vision Pro” has been trademarked in China by Huawei, a maker of electronic devices.
The trademark states that Huawei has exclusive rights from November 28, 2021, to November 27, 2031. Huawei has a “Vision” line of televisions, which is likely what the Vision Pro trademark is for, but the company also has a line of eyewear with built-in speakers and microphones for listening to music and taking calls.
Before the WWDC23 keynote, speculation was that Apple’s headset would be called “Reality Pro” and the operating system, which is called visionOS, would be xrOS. It’s unclear if Apple changed the names at the last minute, or if the rumored names were used to suss out people leaking info to the media. It’s also not clear whether China trademark law would allow the Vision Pro name since there is an Apple logo appended to it.
Apple isn’t new to trademark issues. The most infamous one involved the iPhone, a trademark that was owned by Cisco at the time of its unveiling in 2007. The two companies eventually came to a deal that lets both of them use the iPhone branding. Details of the deal were not released, and Cisco eventually stopped using the iPhone brand for its IP phones. Apple has also had several trademark disputes with Apple Records over the years.
If the companies don’t reach an agreement and courts rule in favor of Huawei, Apple wouldn’t be able to sell the Vision Pro in China. Apple could release the Vision Pro under a different name, though that’s very unlikely. It could also call the headset something different in China—it’s not known if “Reality Pro” is trademarked by another company in that country—but Apple likes to have consistent branding, so it’s more likely that Apple and Huawei will end up in court before eventually agreeing to a deal.
