When Is An Apple iPad Not A Genuine iPad? When It's Sold In Mainland China
When Is An Apple iPad Not A Genuine iPad? When It's Sold In Mainland China
Posted 12/07/2011 at 1:06pm
| by Brad Chacos
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Don’t let the headline fool you; Apple’s still selling plenty of iPads in its Chinese stores, especially the ones in Shanghai and Beijing. Those honeypots may soon dry up, though, as a Chinese court has determined that Apple has no right to use the iPad moniker in mainland China. The company that owns Chinese rights to the name now plans to sue the pants off of Apple for selling the iPad on the mainland. But the infringed company is totally cool that Apple used the iPad name on the island of Taipei. Sound complicated? It is.
Proview Technology (Taipei) sold Apple rights to use the iPad name in Taipei way back in 2009, you see, but Proview Technology (Shenzhen) – another Proview International Holdings Limited subsidiary – holds the rights from mainland use of the name. Apple never bought those separate mainland rights before opening stores in mainland China, and it actually sued Proview Technology (Shenzhen) for infringing on the 'iPad" trademark, even though Proview registered the term way back in 2000.
Today, Xinhua News reported that a local court ruled in Proview Technology (Shenzhen)’s favor and dismissed Apple's lawsuit. Proview Technology (Shenzhen) is struggling to stay afloat right now, so it should come as no surprise that the company quickly announced that it was suing Apple for copyright infringement – to the tune of $1.6 billion.
"Apple's actions are strange. They had not obtained the rights to use the 'iPad' trademark when they began to sell the iPad on the Chinese mainland in September last year," said Huang Yiding, speaking for Proview. “Their copy infringement is very clear. The laws are still there, and they sell their products in defiance of laws. The more products they sell, the more they need to compensate.”
Let’s have some fun with this one: what would be a good secondary name for the iPad if Apple can’t call it “iPad” in China?
Image credit: myessentia.com
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omnipc
February 14, 2012 at 11:52pm
taste your own medicine Apple! MPAA and RIAA will rue the days when law of unintended consequences come to bite them in the ass from overseas market. US politicians trying to slap anti child pornography measure with SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA is a phony deceptive tactic. What happened to honesty, integrity, and trust?
AnUnknownSource
December 09, 2011 at 5:02am
So chinese courts have essentially ruled that Taiwan is not part of China? Great... more ambiguity...
avenger48
December 18, 2011 at 9:03pm
Well, since Taiwan ruled that China wasn't part of China in the '60's, not really.
ArchStanton
December 08, 2011 at 8:07am
Brad, I hate to point this out... but you really missed a pretty important detail here. Taipei is not a Chinese island, it is a city on the island of Formosa. Most of the world calls this by a the name Taiwan and most of the world agrees that this is a separate country from China. The legal system is of course very different, as is the political system so the whole thing is not very strange or complicated. You refer to the Chinese state media outlet Xinhua and while it is more fair and balanced than your average Murdoch new source, they would of course never use the word Taiwan since the Chinese government officially consider the island part of China and not a separate country.
Interesting with an American news company calling Taiwan a part of China though. Our new Chinese Overlords will be pleased. :-)
Andacious
December 08, 2011 at 7:22am
iStealOtherPeoplesIdeasAndClaimTheyAreMyOwnThenSueYouIfYouSayOtherwise
Bad Kharma
December 07, 2011 at 10:17pm
That would be poetic justice. You know, in China, Apple doesn't stand a chance of winning. It would be funny to see this other company seize Apple's manufacturing assets in China to pay off the suit. Apple would have to find a new country to build its factories where they can treat their employees so badly that they would prefer to commit suicide than work for Apple. Do you know how badly you have to treat a person in a third world country for them to consider suicide as a viable option??? They are already treated like crap.
Eoraptor
December 08, 2011 at 11:46am
Apple doesn't have "manufacturing assets" in china, they contract with Foxconn, just like 90% of the computing industry. Apple no more owns Foxconn than GM owns Goodyear.
dubcek
December 07, 2011 at 5:24pm
Whether they've ever had a product by that name is irrelevant they legally own that name in mainland China end of story.
Apple has to withdraw, rename or settle with Proview, but I'm sure they will try to coerce the courts to side with them.
praetor_alpha
December 07, 2011 at 4:38pm
Holy shit! There's trademark and patent infringement laws in China???? Since when?
wolfing
December 07, 2011 at 2:54pm
it's not a clear thing. See, the old company trademarked the iPad name. Then, don't know how, some other company bought the trademark from a subsidiary of the old company, and then Apple bought the trademark from this other company and proceded to sue the old company. Problem is, the trademark belonged to the old company, not its subsidiary (why didn't the 'other company' realize this is beyond me), and now in payback time, the old company is countersueing Apple... BACKFIRE!
munky101
December 07, 2011 at 3:33pm
It is quite clear, Proview is the same company and the trademark was never sold. Apples mistake was that they only bought the rights to Taipei(a small island off the coast of China) not to all of China. It's very specific and very clear.
munky101
December 07, 2011 at 2:44pm
It does indeed sound like payback for Apple and their minions. Especially if you consider all that Apple has been doing to stop samsung from selling their devices in Euope. This isn't very funny I admit, but what about the "MacPad" to go along with their notebook line.
I used to care about what happened to them before they became elitest and started charging $1500 for what amounted to $400 in hardware. Just goes to show you how kharma can be sometimes. Wouldn't it be funny if the Chinese courts sided with the other company and hit Apple with one of those monumental, door closing fines? Not like they are a large employer in the IT world anyway.
praack
December 07, 2011 at 2:34pm
normally I ma not a fan of patent wars - but this is different- I dont doubt that there was a nascent product with IPAD byt he company way back when - and Apple wanted the name in 2009- but looked at China as not being a good market.
Now they figure they can walk over it though they do not have license to do so- insteady of cross licensing or paying for the name- rights
Supall
December 07, 2011 at 2:18pm
How about ChiPad? Or iPoad? Maybe even iP@d! Or better yet, they can sell it as i
Biceps
December 07, 2011 at 1:44pm
iPad name for China? here are a couple suggestions:
- The iPanda
- The SinoPad
- The iRonyPad, because you have got to truly love the irony of China enforcing any type of copyright, trademark or intellectual property law.
nsvander
December 07, 2011 at 1:40pm
I am not an apple fan, but this sounds like a company trying to cash in on someone elses popularity. Even though Proview owns the trademark, did they have or ever have a product on the market called the iPad? I mean before Apple came out with the iPad, I had never heard of it, and before this lawsuit was filed I never even heard of Proview.
Eoraptor
December 07, 2011 at 1:37pm
maxiPad... they certainly stepped into a bloody mess this time. [rimshot][/rimshot]
But in all seriousness, this is like buying the rights to sell "bigmacks" in panama, and then thinking that gives me the rights to sell "bigmacks" in all of south america. Sorry, Taipei and China are not the same, Apple.
Holly Golightly
December 07, 2011 at 1:26pm
Gooooooooood!!! Payback is a mofo, that's for sure! I hope they sue Apple and ban all of their products. Finally, another country fighting back against the Apple virus.
As for secondary name. They should use Apple's Apple Tablet. That or the iSlate.
Joji
December 07, 2011 at 2:39pm
I don't get how this article have anything to do with "fighting back against the Apple virus". This article is a bit "different"... is it?
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