Apple and Proview Dispute: Who owns the iPad trademark?
Who owns the rights to iPad?
Is it Apple or is it a Chinese
company, Proview? Proview held a press conference saying it’s in the process of
choosing from among three U.S. law firms to sue Apple in the U.S. for $2
billion. In the meantime, it handed out an ad to reporters showing its iPad
— or Internet Personal Access Device. The Proview iPad, which it says it
spent $30 million developing, looks more like the old iMacs than a tablet
computer (Guglielmo).
According to Apple, it bought and
registered all of the trademarks for iPad before it was released in 2010.
Originally, Proview owned the trademark in eight different countries- two of
which were in mainland China. As stated by Forbes staff, Connie Guglielmo,
“it bought all trademarks for the iPad name in December 2009 from a Proview
Group subsidiary for £35,000 (or about $55,000). Apple says that after talking
to Proview Holdings, Proview Electronics and Proview Shenzhen, it cut the deal
with Proview Electronics, which it was told owned the China trademarks.” Shouldn’t this deal be enough to prove that Apple in fact
does own the trademarks? Unfortunately, it’s not, and the Chinese courts remain
loyal to the Chinese company.
An Apple spokeswoman stated: “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 in China and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter.” Apple
lost that case in mainland China, but it is appealing to a higher court where
it can use as evidence from documents that Proview had provided to the court in
Hong Kong. One of the documents follows:
A few emails, like the one above, between Apple’s
special-purpose company and Proview seem to show that it did own all of the
trademarks.
Apple, which had lost a court
ruling in Shenzhen recently, must stop selling the iPad or pay more than 10
billion yuan ($1.59 billion) to Proview if it loses the final court rulings in
China, industry insiders said.
“Perhaps further chipping away at
that credibility is Proview’s statement regarding the iPad itself. Referring to
a supposedly similar product for which the iPad name was designated by Proview
in 2000, Yang said, ‘We spent a lot of resources on it. It's the same concept
as the iPad today, except that back then, there were practically no LCD screens.’
Asking the public to believe that Proview, a largely unknown display company,
was poised to unveil the original iPad back in 2000 is not an argument likely
to win many believers” (PC Mag).
It’s interesting to note that Proview
is deeply in debt and hopes via its lawsuits to lift the possible trademark
transfer value, according to research firm Analysys International.
Ban on iPads
While some retailers
in China say they’ve stopped selling the iPad while the dispute lingers,
Apple will continue to sell them in their four retail stores in mainland China. According to Economic Times, Suning, the
country's leading electronics seller, said Friday it was halting sales of iPad,
following similar actions by major online shopping sites like Amazon.cn and
360buy.com. However, many Chinese are huge fans of Apple products, so to
completely stop selling them could lead to a black market for iPads, in addition to the counterfeiting of the iPad.
Chinese Authorities Seize iPads
The Chinese authorities started to
remove iPads from stores in certain parts of mainland China. According to PC
Mag, “the first report of iPad seizures were revealed
by the Hebei Youth Daily, and told of inspection teams confiscating
roughly 45 iPads from Shijiazhuang stores in Northern China. As news of the
seizures spread, many retailers in the area began voluntarily removing the iPad
from store shelves to avoid having the device confiscated.” For many retailers, the iPad customers are a huge source of revenue- to stop selling them means losing money. People that come into stores for iPads also purchase other things such as accessories for them or other products of interest in the stores. By seizing the iPads, Chinese authorities are adding further hype and upsetting many people. Who do they remain more loyola to- their country or a company whose products they love?
Is this affecting Apple's stock?
If sales are going to decrease, would this signal a decrease in the stock?
Should Apple settle or fight it out in court?
What do you think? Comment on the following:
Do you think Apple will win the case? Will Apple be forced to come up with a new name for the iPad in China? What would you call the iPad if you had to give it a new name in China? Do you think this is China's way at attacking American business and presence in their country? Will this force Apple to rethink where it does business and avoid China? Will Apple do more work and business in Europe now?
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