Apple May Lose Rights To iPad Name In China

In October Taiwan-based company Proview Electronics charged Apple with trademark infringement related to the “iPad” name and the chairman promised to bring a legal action against Apple for damages in both China and US. Apple quietly acquired the global rights to the iPad trademark and also filed a suit to obtain the rights in China that apparently were not covered by the agreement. According to Reuter’s report, today Intermediate People’s Court in Shenzhen rejected Apple’s suit to acquire ownership over the trademark in China. As Financial Times reports, Proview have registered the iPad trademark in several regions including South Korea, EU, China, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. The report notes that Proview unsuccessfully marketed a tablet computer called I-PAD about ten years ago. Reportedly, courts have not yet made a final judgment on ownership, but Apple is said to have already won a preliminary injunctions for iPad trademark in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. In 2006 Proview sold the global trademark for “iPad” name to US company IP Application Development (IPAD) for $55.000. It appears that the Chinese trademarks were not covered by this agreement, which lead IP Application Development and Apple to sue Proview. In October, chairman of Proview Yang Rongshan said:

“It is arrogant of Apple to just ignore our rights and go ahead selling the iPad in this market, and we will oppose that”.

As of October, Proview was reportedly seeking about $ 1.5 billion in damages from Apple.