Numerous online stores in China have taken the iPad off their shelves, after Proview said that Apple was breaking their trademark on the term “iPad”. The fight continues in court, but today, Apple has released a statement to China Daily about Proview’s allegations of Apple breaking the trademark.
“We bought Proview’s worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago. Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple, and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter,” according to the statement, which also said the case is still pending on the Chinese mainland.”
Apple says that they purchased Proview’s iPad trademark over several years ago, in 10 different countries. Proview is refusing to transfer the trademark, and Hong Kong courts have already sided with Apple, according to their statement.
Many have accused the Mainland Chinese government of favoring local companies in these types of matters so it may not be as easy as it should to clear this hurdle for Apple. Chinese customs havealready said that the iPad is too powerful to be banned even though Proview tried to block iPads from coming in or going out of China earlier this week.
Proview countered the Hong Kong situation:
“Apple is worried the iPad trademark will be resold before the hearing is finished, so itasked the Hong Kong court to forbid Proview Shenzhen from doing that,” he said,adding that the court’s decision to prevent the trademark from being transferred cannot be seen as showing that it has ruled in favor of Apple. “The root cause of the dispute is Apple’ underestimation of the legal complications inChina,” the lawyer said, adding the case also serves as a warning to companies inChina to think twice about risks before “going abroad”.
If Apple can’t prove that Proview didn’t honor its agreement to transfer the name, Apple will likely settle for somewhere significantly south of the $1.5B that Proview wants for the name or simply choose another name for the iPad in China.
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