SQLite/iPhone read copyright symbol

Question

Hi All, I am having problems reading the copyright symbol from a sqlite db that I have for my App that I am developing. I import the information manually, ie, from an excel sheet. I have tried two ways of doing it and failed with both:

1. Tried replacing the copyright symbol with "\u00ae" (unicode combination) within excel and then importing the modified file. Result: I get the combination of \u00ae as a part of the string, it doesnt detect the unicode combination.
2. Tried leaving as it is. Importing the excel with the copyright symbol. Result: I get a symbol that is different from the copyright, its something like an AE put together.looks like this: Æ

Heres my code how I read from DB:

    -(void) readCategoriesFromDatabase:(NSString *) rest_input {
// Init the products Array
 categories = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
 // Open the database from the users filessytem
 rest_input = [rest_input stringByAppendingString:@"'"];
 NSString *newString;
 newString = [@"select distinct category from food where restaurant='" stringByAppendingString:rest_input];
 const char *cat_sqlStatement = [newString UTF8String]; 

 sqlite3_stmt *cat_compiledStatement;

 if(sqlite3_prepare_v2(database, cat_sqlStatement, -1, &cat_compiledStatement, NULL) == SQLITE_OK) {
  // Loop through the results and add them to the feeds array
  while(sqlite3_step(cat_compiledStatement) == SQLITE_ROW) {

   NSString *catName = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:(char *)sqlite3_column_text(cat_compiledStatement,0)];

   // Create a new product object with the data from the database
   Product *category = [[Product alloc] initWithName:catName];

   // Add the product object to the respective Array
   [categories addObject:category];

   [category release];
  }

  sqlite3_finalize(cat_compiledStatement);

 }

 NSLog(@"Finished Accessing Database to gather Categories....");
}

I open the DB with this function:

   -(void) checkAndCreateDatabase{
 NSLog(@"Checking/Creating Database....");

 NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];

 success = [fileManager fileExistsAtPath:databasePath];

 [fileManager removeFileAtPath:databasePath handler:nil];
 NSString *databasePathFromApp = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath] stringByAppendingPathComponent:databaseName];
 [fileManager copyItemAtPath:databasePathFromApp toPath:databasePath error:nil];

 [fileManager release];

 if (sqlite3_open([databasePath UTF8String], &database) != SQLITE_OK) {
  sqlite3_close(database);
  database = nil;
 }

 NSLog(@"Finished Checking/Creating Database....");
}

Thanks to anything that can help me out.