Apple in Shanghai Showdown for ‘iPad’ Name in China
Apple defended its right to use the “iPad” trademark in China in a mainland Chinese court on Wednesday.
In a David-and-Goliath legal showdown, Shenzhen Proview Technology, a fledgling Chinese electronics company, is suing Apple, claiming they never sold Apple the right to use the name of the popular tablet device in China.
Proview, an LCD screen manufacturer, owned the copyrights for an “IPAD,” short for Internet Personal Access Device. Apple argues that it purchased that name from Proview for use in China for $55,000 through an intermediary company. However, Proview’s lawyer has claimed that the sale, which was made by the company’s Taiwan-based affiliate, was invalid.
“Apple has no right to sell iPads under that name,” said Proview’s lawyer according to the Associated Press.
Apple parried by saying that Proview violated the deal after failing to give Apple the sought-after trademark rights in mainland China. Apple also claimed that Proview, which is struggling financially, has not recently sold its “IPAD” in China and has no capability of doing so, voiding Proview’s hold on the copyright.
“They have no market, no sales, no customers, they have nothing,” Apple’s laywer said of Proview. “The iPad is so popular that it is in short supply. We have to consider the public good.”
The case was brought on by Proview in order to get Apple to stop selling iPads in China under that name.
In an earlier case, a court in Hong Kong, which has a legal system separate from that of mainland China, decided in favor of Apple. A Shenzhen court located in southern China sided with Proview. Apple is appealing that decision and a higher court is expected to hear the case on Feb. 29.
Proview has sought out help from local authorities around the country, and iPads have since vanished from shops in a few Chinese cities. But at many Chinese Apple Stores, customers are snapping them up as quickly as they’re put on shelves. The Apple iPad makes up more than 70 percent of tablet sales in the country.
The Chinese market is hugely important for Apple. Chinese citizens are just as eager to get their hands on the latest Apple technology as Americans, evidenced by quasi-riots when Beijing’s Apple Store failed to open on the morning of the local iPhone 4S launch.
Despite this consumer craze, Apple has something of a tumultuous relationship with China. The company has recently come under pressure from human rights groups for allegedly poor working conditions at Chinese factories which produce components for the iPad and other Apple devices.
Apple representatives were not immediately available for comment.
What do you think of the trademark dispute? Does Apple have the right to the “iPad” name in China? Sound off in the comments below.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, TommL
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