“Pointing out that Apple CEO Tim Cook in May refused his US$75 million dividends from over 1 million shares, Proview’s founder and chairman Yang Rongshan–who fought with Apple for the iPad trademark in China and was awarded US$60 million by the court–said people around him realized the amount was ‘very close with the compensation Apple would pay for Proview,'” Cyrus Lee reports for ZDNet.
“Ray Mai, who served in the legal department for Proview’s Taiwan arm, held the same view. Speaking to IT Times, a mainland-based technology newspaper, Mai said the trademark dispute was distinguishable from other infringement cases as someone in Apple who had made a mistake, and the consequences of which should not be passed to the shareholders,” Lee reports. “‘Since Steve Jobs was gone, Cook should take up the responsibility,’ said Mai.”
Lee reports, “Apple lost a lawsuit against Proview in December 2011 when it said it was the legitimate owner of the iPad trademark in China. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in late-May 2012, Apple indicated Cook asked his restricted stock units not receive dividends amounting to around US$75 million. A Chinese higher court announced last month Apple paid US$60 million to Proview and settled the case through mediation in China.”
Read more in the full article here.
Manning up with dignity and not shifting the blame is true leadership.
Regardless of the truth, if the shoe fits and it makes the people happy with what is reported, especially Chinese, at this very moment, then by all means run with it. Who cares about Peoview, they hopefully can make a stain into a win for Apple, with this type of rhetoric.
Yes we poop on you, but here is a duck feast in your honor.
Talk about taking one for the team…
Just one word. Just one :
WOW.
Just one word: Chinese reporting.
Pure speculation.
Exactly. Of all the things we have ever read on this website, this one is by far the one that should most be labeled conjecture. There are a zillion reasons why Cook might not have taken the dividends, not the least of which is taxes. This Mai guy sounds like he’s been watching too many stupid kung fu movies. No one is falling on any swords here. $65 million dollars is nothing to Apple these days. Someone at Apple made mistakes? I don’t think so.
I don’t even think it’s “pure speculation.” It’s speculation polluted by BS.
A ridiculous headline. Apples owes $60 to Proview, Tim Cook declines to take $75 million so Tim is paying for the extra money to a criminal China blackmailer? Some writer should be shot for cluttering up Internet space with such a blatant web baiting hit. Utter nonsense association and conclusion.
There was no mistake by Apple, except to think they could do legal business in China. It’s a criminal nation where laws do not apply. Apple owned the rights, including in China, and China decided to do a mafia-esque “shake down” not because there was any legal basis, but because this is China, a criminal nation of thugs.
Oh come on!
Linking two similar figures to a deal we will never know anything about? And coming up with a reason that doesn’t make sense in today’s corporate world. And all this from a story on Zdnet without an ounce of corroboration.
Urban myth in the making.
And how is that any different than a lot of other “journalism” of late?
Agreed. There are too many flagpoles in the world for low life journos to run scurrilous ideas to the top which feeds the scandalmonger blogs.
But that’s ‘net democracy for you.
This is the kind of post I expect from Value Walk and the other trolls – keep it up and u will lose a regular reader…
This is just the leeches at ProView talking trash. If they spread the view that the CEO paid out of his own pocket due to a mistake, it makes them appear to be in the right. Screw them. Don’t believe it.
The 75m and the 60m are completely unrelated apart from being within 15m of each other.
I’m the same height as Einstein. So I must be Einstein. Wow! Cool!
This is just the leeches at ProView talking trash. If they spread the view that the CEO paid out of his own pocket due to a mistake, it makes them appear to be in the right. Stuff them. Don’t believe it.
The 75m and the 60m are completely unrelated apart from being within 15m of each other.
With the obscene amount of cash the idiot Apple board compensation committee needlessly blew to “retain” Cook (as if he had a billion-dollar offer somewhere else), Cook might as well start picking up the tab for every “oops” that happens on his watch.
Love the guy, hate the greed.
Sure, leading the greatest, fastest growing company not only in tech, but in any industry, should be a volunteer position. He should be lucky if they pay for his lunch and give him free parking.
People like you that talk about “greed” are yourself greedy. You want someone not to have something that they earned, which is just another form of greed, only it’s mixed in with jealousy and malice, so it’s actually worse. I prefer pure selfish greed. More honest. And decent.
I could picture Steve doing that, and I think Tim is cut of similar cloth. So it would not surprise me at all that this is true.
^ Not this. See below.
Cook declined the dividend on his stock, as he was the one who initiated the dividend and did not want a conflict of interest
^ This.
Yep!
This is truly speculation. If you think deeper, there is no need for Proview to say anything nice about Apple after a settlement is reached. By speculate on Tim Cook paying $60M out of his own pocket, Proview knowing full well that this will paint a better picture on Apple.
This is a typical act of Far East culture, and it’s the so-called “face-saving” act.
my 2 cents…
This is the stupidest, most ridiculous “story” ever. The mistake happened under Steve Jobs watch, and thus wasn’t Cook’s responsibility anyway. If anyone was liable for the mistake, it was the attorney/department that did the negotiating, not the CEO.
Dealing with China and it’s corrupt seudo-capitalism/corruption/government controlled system is a nightmare for anyone from the outside. Not only will mistakes happen, sometimes you’ll just get shaken down. Look at what Walmart had to do with bribes in Mexico just to get stores open — that was SOP there.
Apple got off cheap for $60 million, but now has the China court’s stamp that Apple owns the iPad trademark in China, so it will stop any other claims from coming out.
“The mistake happened under Steve Jobs watch,”
There was no mistake. Only chinese corruption. Apple bought the trademark from the company president , as the company president, just out of a different office… Now we know why, he was cheating.
A Hong Kong court and a US court both found Apple in the right.
nuff said
I thought that the issue was that employees were given restricted stock units. When they decided to give dividends, they had a choice to include or exclude the restricted units. If they excluded them, then employees wouldn’t get dividends. Cook wanted them to get dividends as “bonuses”, but didn’t want to appear to be giving himself a huge bonus, so he declined the dividends for himself.
$75m isn’t $60m. It’s really not that close. And the dividend decision was made considerably earlier than the settlement decision.
When I read the headline, my first interpretation was, “did Cook just hand them the loose change from his pocket?”
This is stupid. The two things are totally unrelated. Just because the numbers are close, it means Tim Cook paid for it? I’m sure there are dozens of expenses for Apple that occur in the same time frame that are “about” $75 million.
Let’s see… Maybe Tim Cook is paying the utilities bill at all Apple locations worldwide for the month of July. He left the lights on in his office one night, and he feels guilty about that… Yeah, that sounds reasonable…
China is a scum criminal nation run by ruthless Hitler style dictators of the worst kind.
Sad to see the West selling out to these monsters.
WRONG: Apple lost a lawsuit against Proview in December 2011 when it said it was the legitimate owner of the iPad trademark in China.
Apple WON a lawsuit against Proview in June of 2011 in Hong Kong, the designated court of redress designated in Apple’s contract with Proview. That ended ALL obligations by Apple to address this issue. Everything thereafter was mere Chinese flimflam and deceit. That Apple paid any attention and paid Proview any cash is one of the biggest sucker moments in Apple’s history.
If all the BS about Tim Cook personally forking over the dough to scam artists Proview is true, I say fine with me. I would be glad he took the blame for this blunder. I just hope he’s learned his lesson about China: Criminal Nation. I also hope he is prepared to deal with all the ME TOO! lawsuits that are resulting from this blunder. There are TWO ME TOO! lawsuits in China: Criminal Nation against Apple within the last week, and counting. It’s gonna suck Tim. 😕