“Apple Inc. elaborated on its claim to the iPad trademark in China on Tuesday, saying that the computer maker’s opponent in a court battle is ‘misleading Chinese courts and customers,'” Loretta Chao reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“The dispute comes as Apple’s sales rise in China, making it the company’s No. 2 market, behind the U.S. Apple doesn’t break out iPad sales in China, but research firm IDC estimated that the company sold nearly 4.1 million iPads in China last year, or 70% of all tablet computers sold in the country,” Chao reports. “A new version of the iPad is expected to go on sale in other parts of the world, including Hong Kong, this week, though it was unclear when it will go on sale in mainland China.”
Chao reports, “Apple in 2009 reached a deal with a Taiwan affiliate of Proview to buy the trademark rights for ‘IPAD,’ a name Proview had registered years earlier for a separate product. The 2009 deal included a list of trademarks registered in several different countries, including two in mainland China, according to a copy of the contract. Apple on Tuesday said Proview steered the talks through its Taiwan arm even though the China trademarks technically belonged to its Shenzhen subsidiary, Proview Technology Shenzhen Co., which is about $400 million in debt. Apple also said the move was a maneuver to shield Proview Technology from mainland creditors.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s way past time to put this extortion attempt to bed.
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