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Apple faces iPad ban in China trademark dispute. UPDATE Apple Heroically victorious!!

3chordcharlie

3chordcharlie

Diamond Member
http://www.thestar.com/business/art...aces-ipad-ban-in-china-trademark-dispute?bn=1

So after doing absolutely no research on this, I've concluded that the Chinese are accusing America of stealing or misappropriating intellectual property.

Then I shook my head, chuckled, and will get back to my regularly scheduled napping.

Edit - I did 'research' whether Proview Technology or Shenzhen appeared in any recent threads, so I apologize if this has been posted.

Update (thanks P-moose): Hong Kong court gives Proview the big F-yew.

Apple spokesperson says:
Now that we've seen what it's like to have your business threatened by spurious legal action, we will be re-evaluating our sue-everyone marketing strategy. Expect a fairer, less schizophrenic Apple from today forward.
Click to expand...

Okay, I lied about the last bit😉
 
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I vote we create one trademark/patent thread and put all related posts in it. It feels like it's becoming increasingly difficult to find threads discussing the actual mobile devices & gadgets rather than the legal and monetary aspects of the industry...
 
My quick summary is that Apple bought the iPad trademark all over the world from companies that held it. Unforunately when it came to Proview, it acquired the trademark from one branch of the company and the OTHER branch reserved the right to use it on mainland China and now there's this big legal mess.
 
Red Storm said:
I vote we create one trademark/patent thread and put all related posts in it. It feels like it's becoming increasingly difficult to find threads discussing the actual mobile devices & gadgets rather than the legal and monetary aspects of the industry...
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Maybe a whole sub-forum for company related issues under Hardware and Technology would be better.
 
Ironic thing is that they are going after an American company over trademark infringement under laws that Americans asked them to pass to prevent trademark infringement.
 
TuxDave said:
My quick summary is that Apple bought the iPad trademark all over the world from companies that held it. Unforunately when it came to Proview, it acquired the trademark from one branch of the company and the OTHER branch reserved the right to use it on mainland China and now there's this big legal mess.
Click to expand...

Its a bit dodgy, you think it might have being mentioned somewhere......
 
Red Storm said:
I vote we create one trademark/patent thread and put all related posts in it. It feels like it's becoming increasingly difficult to find threads discussing the actual mobile devices & gadgets rather than the legal and monetary aspects of the industry...
Click to expand...

I've actually submarined a patent for a forum sweeper that will do exactly this, automatically. Now all I have to do is wait for someone else to implement it. 😀
 
senseamp said:
Ironic thing is that they are going after an American company over trademark infringement under laws that Americans asked them to pass to prevent trademark infringement.
Click to expand...

I thought that was funny too. China the capital of piracy and kirfs are enacting trademark laws now.
 
Pretty damned funny, but I can't see it amounting to much in the long run. Apple does a lot of business in China and probably results in the employment of tens if not hundreds of thousands of employees that both manufacture the components going into Apple products and assemble those products.

Eventually the government will step in to put a stop to this if they feel it's going to disrupt relations or cause other issues.
 
Apple will not want to piss off the Chinese as they have over 1.3B people that can be exploited for cheap labor. With that many people they can do "crop rotation" of labor whenever a given area get's 2c/hour more expensive.

OTH, the Chinese would be wise to play nice with Apple or face the wrath of there legal department. 1.3B poor people versus $50B+ for lawyers -- who'd win that one...


Brian
 
Brian Stirling said:
OTH, the Chinese would be wise to play nice with Apple or face the wrath of there legal department. 1.3B poor people versus $50B+ for lawyers -- who'd win that one...
Click to expand...

It's not even a matter of money, it's what the government decides. No amount of lawyers is going to change that. All Apple has to do is point out how much of a shame it would be to move manufacturing to Brazil over such a silly legal matter and the government will politely ask the company suing Apple to knock it off. Perhaps a token award will be given out to placate the other company. Conversely, China represents one of Apple's fastest growing market and one that is still largely untapped, so they don't want to be too heavy handed either.
 
Brian Stirling said:
Apple will not want to piss off the Chinese as they have over 1.3B people that can be exploited for cheap labor. With that many people they can do "crop rotation" of labor whenever a given area get's 2c/hour more expensive.

OTH, the Chinese would be wise to play nice with Apple or face the wrath of there legal department. 1.3B poor people versus $50B+ for lawyers -- who'd win that one...


Brian
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If Tienanmen Square is any indication, the Chinese communist government will do whatever they want regardless of what their people wants.
They've already stolen tech from Boeing aircraft, Siemens/GE/Japanese high speed train technology, Ford hybrid batteries, along with many others.

I love how you seem to think that the 1.3 billion poor people that China has will overpower their government.
 
TuxDave said:
My quick summary is that Apple bought the iPad trademark all over the world from companies that held it. Unforunately when it came to Proview, it acquired the trademark from one branch of the company and the OTHER branch reserved the right to use it on mainland China and now there's this big legal mess.
Click to expand...
Another article I read suggested that ProView is just miffed that Apple used an intermediary to buy the trademark. Sounds like Apple bought it fair and square and ProView is just bitter because they didn't realize it was being sold to a company as large as Apple and they didn't try to extort more money out of them for it.

Authorities and retailers have started taking Apple iPad off shelves in China, as an implementation of a court-order. Representatives of State agency Administrations of Industry and Commerce (AIC) have started confiscating inventories of the tablet from some retailers, while other retailers have voluntarily de-listed it, and taken it off shelves. The court-order is a result of a long drawn out battle between Chinese company ProView and Apple over the trademark "iPad".

Apple acquired the "iPad" brand name from ProView in 2006 by what the latter alleged as "dubious means", by floating a proxy shell company called "IP Application Development", without ProView having the slightest clue that it was dealing with Apple, which would go on use it for one of its biggest product lines. The only way Apple can get out of this mess is by working out a fresh agreement with ProView over the use of the iPad trademark, and possibly paying up to US $1.5 billion, which ProView seeks in damages. Apple is already having to pay a fine of $38 million to the Chinese regulators.
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http://www.techpowerup.com/160424/C...-iPad-off-Shelves-Following-Court-Ruling.html
 
A little more light on the legal engagement.

On Tuesday, lawyers representing Proview Technology (Shenzhen) Co Ltd said the company would seek a ban on exports of Apple's iPads from China, a move that could deal a blow to the U.S. technology giant's sales globally.

Yang said the best option to resolve the legal dispute would be an out-of-court settlement. The next hearing of the case is due for February 22 in Shanghai.
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Apple says it bought Proview's worldwide rights to the trademark in 10 different countries several years ago, including rights to the iPad name from a Taiwan subsidiary of Proview International.

However, Proview Technology (Shenzhen) says the sale did not cover the trademark's use in China, where it owns the iPad name.
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Either way, this will end badly for Apple.

Ahh, thanks frostedflakes. I was trying to find the article that mentioned ProView had no idea they were selling the rights to Apple because it was actually a subsidiary company they were dealing with.
 
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This is very old news. The ban is recent but the claim was made months ago. This has nothing to do with technology theft (why 3chordcharlie concluded that was the case is beyond my imagination). It is a simple argument over branding where a another company claimed they own the right to the name 'ipad' for some future product.
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you2 said:
This is very old news. The ban is recent but the claim was made months ago. This has nothing to do with technology theft (why 3chordcharlie concluded that was the case is beyond my imagination). It is a simple argument over branding where a another company claimed they own the right to the name 'ipad' for some future product.
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Read much?
 
pandemonium said:
A little more light on the legal engagement.

Either way, this will end badly for Apple.

Ahh, thanks frostedflakes. I was trying to find the article that mentioned ProView had no idea they were selling the rights to Apple because it was actually a subsidiary company they were dealing with.
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Seems Proview is in more than a little trouble here, they're being delisted from the HK stock exchange by June, and were ordered by a Chinese court to honor the agreement in December, they're in trouble for ignoring the Chinese gov's decision.

The removal of the iPad from Amazon China's website and others is unrelated as they are not official Apple resellers, as well as several websites and companies that used Amazon's storefront in China to resell iPads. Turns out the iPad's removal is unrelated to the Proview claim.

I suspect it will end badly for Proview, here's pics of one of their facilities in ruin in S. China:

http://photos.caixin.com/2012-02-16/100357151_7.html
 
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