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Apple Accused of 'iPad' Trademark Infringement in China

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Apr 12, 2001
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AFP reports that a Chinese firm has accused Apple of trademark infringement for its use of the "iPad" name in that country, seeking up to $800 million to settle the dispute.Proview Technology Co, Ltd, which is based in the southern city of Shenzhen, registered the iPad trademark in January 2000 and still owns the rights to its use in China, the Beijing News said, citing government archives.

Apple started selling its sleek iPad tablet computer in China last month, after months of grey-market action among avid buyers unwilling to wait for the official launch.Reports indicate that Proview has demanded that Apple immediately cease its infringement and enter into fresh negotiations for the rights to use the "iPad" name in China. The two companies apparently held earlier talks regarding the trademark, but were unable to reach an agreement. Apple also brought Proview to court back in May in order to prevent the company from transferring the trademark rights to third parties.

Article Link: Apple Accused of 'iPad' Trademark Infringement in China
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/10/27/apple-accused-of-ipad-trademark-infringement-in-china/
oops and OUCH apple! there go our aapl dividends? :(

ps- i hope that apple better checks out all relevant apple like names and other copyrighted related stuff in china....... that market is VERY important for the company
 
The company said they wanted $800 million to license the name iPad. PLEASE!!! Just buy the stupid company, lay off all the lawyers, and use the name as you wish.

They could also buy 51% of the shares, and vote as the majority stockholder to give the license to themselves.
 
Huh?!

Oh, this is rich: the Chinese--you know, the land of unlimited bootlegging, counterfeits and knock-offs--are complaining that someone is infringing THEIR intellectual property rights? Of all the dashed hypocrisy...
 
The joy of dealing with multiple countries. You can't even be mad at the Chinese company, it's not like the bought it trying to block Apple. They have had it since 2000. Wow.
 
Sure but what has this company been doing with this trademark since then. A product, a service, anything. Is it Ipad, IPAD, maybe even I-Pad, or is it actually iPad. Uh-oh, look at Apple making millions of a successful product. Let's sue then for trademark infringement of no product.
 
roland.g said:
Sure but what has this company been doing with this trademark since then. A product, a service, anything. Is it Ipad, IPAD, maybe even I-Pad, or is it actually iPad. Uh-oh, look at Apple making millions of a successful product. Let's sue then for trademark infringement of no product.
Click to expand...

Apple used to make a product called a PowerBook and you can bet they've got trademarks for that name throughout the world.

It's been over 4 years since they last sold a product with that name so do you think it's ok for someone else to use it without Apple's permission?
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Very sleek. Show an iPad with pictures of Asians for a story about China.
 
dpkworldwide said:
Oh, this is rich: the Chinese--you know, the land of unlimited bootlegging, counterfeits and knock-offs--are complaining that someone is infringing THEIR intellectual property rights? Of all the dashed hypocrisy...
Click to expand...

Not "the Chinese." One Chinese company, which apparently does have the rights to the name.

Not that I don't see the irony, but there's nothing hypocritical in this company defending a copyright they hold.

hirshnoc said:
Very sleek. Show an iPad with pictures of Asians for a story about China.
Click to expand...

It must be an image from the Chinese Apple Store, since the text is Chinese characters.
 
OllyW said:
Apple used to make a product called a PowerBook and you can bet they've got trademarks for that name throughout the world.
It's been over 4 years since they last sold a product with that name so do you think it's ok for someone else to use it without Apple's permission?
Click to expand...

No kidding!! Can you imagine the sh*tstorm Apple would put up if someone tried using the "PowerBook" name anytime in the next 500 yrs?????
 
Buy the company and then use it to test white iPhone.

PS. I trademarked the use of letter to form words. I want 800,000,000,000,000 US dollars for every letter used to create a word.
 
$800 mill?

Yeah, right. Here you go. Actually, seeing as we have a few billion to toss around...

What a joke
 
What happens if?........

nastebu said:
Not "the Chinese." One Chinese company, which apparently does have the rights to the name.

Not that I don't see the irony, but there's nothing hypocritical in this company defending a copyright they hold.
Click to expand...

Sure, I'm all for copyright protection, but demanding nearly a billion dollars because you had an idea for a name? Talk about the ultimate in GREED! Apple could change the name with 1 letter or number and leave these guys holding their iPad name in China. Give these guys a fair chance to create THEIR billion dollar iPad or maybe they could sell their name to another company for a mere 800 mil. Good luck!
 
nastebu said:
Not "the Chinese." One Chinese company, which apparently does have the rights to the name.

Not that I don't see the irony, but there's nothing hypocritical in this company defending a copyright they hold.
Click to expand...

The hypocrisy is that this company is using Chinese law to defend its copyright, whereby Chinese law pretty much craps on foreign copyrights by virtually sanctioning the mass production and exportation of counterfeit goods.
 
Wow, dudes. There are some pretty wild views of China in the forum today.

I'm no expert, but in my experience, Mainstream Chinese business is not all that different from business in the US or anywhere else in the world.

In any big country you'll have varying pockets of citizen infringement, organized infringement, patent trolls, trademark campers and so on. Mixed in you'll have legit vendors, legit patent holders etc.

Capitalism is HUGE in the Chinese cities I've visited, they've got more entrepreneurs, indie business guys, and folks selling things on the street than just about anywhere else in the world. American small business folks could pick up a thing or two.

In China's zeal to embrace capitalism, there were some bumps now and then that the media likes to blow out of proportion or over generalized to all of China.

Like I said, it's really not that different.

Every country is like a cup of fine coffee. The blend might be a bit different, but in the end, it's still coffee.
 
[RANT]China never gave a damn about cheap knock offs rip offs and other crap like that. And yet they open huge stores in my country, just because people buy their cheap crap.:mad:
By letting them sell that kind of crap honest (or not so honest people) are losing their jobs. Nowadays your either rich and spend a lot of money on (what you hope that is) a quality product, or you don't buy a thing.:(
Even in big name stores they sell cheap chinese crap, like their ipod copycat players.
But the fault isn't on the chinese people itself. It's the government.
Even our government that doesn't ban crap from being imported, hell they even help them to come here (they don't pay taxes for like 5 years).

Now just because uncle Steve has a big pile of cash means that any company wants a big stack of cash just because of an trademark?:confused:[/RANT]

We are all human, we all get corrupted way to easily.
And they are people just like us. I know a few chinese students and they are very nice people.

I think I will trademark iCrap. Maybe some day it will make me rich:D
 
Don Kosak said:
Wow, dudes. There are some pretty wild views of China in the forum today.

I'm no expert, but in my experience, Mainstream Chinese business is not all that different from business in the US or anywhere else in the world.

In any big country you'll have varying pockets of citizen infringement, organized infringement, patent trolls, trademark campers and so on. Mixed in you'll have legit vendors, legit patent holders etc.

Capitalism is HUGE in the Chinese cities I've visited, they've got more entrepreneurs, indie business guys, and folks selling things on the street than just about anywhere else in the world. American small business folks could pick up a thing or two.

In China's zeal to embrace capitalism, there were some bumps now and then that the media likes to blow out of proportion or over generalized to all of China.

Like I said, it's really not that different.

Every country is like a cup of fine coffee. The blend might be a bit different, but in the end, it's still coffee.
Click to expand...

Although this article is a blog, it does highlight several key issues:

1) Counterfeit goods manufacture is rampant in China
2) This industry is hurting the manufacturers and therefore the employes and retail outlets of genuine merchandise, not to mention costing governments in lost tax revenue
3) Further, this illicit industry is a considerable problem in terms of human rights violations (e.g. child labour)

If every country is like a coffee, then I would consider China to be an acrid and unhealthy cup-o-joe. Especially when you start considering how poorly they treat their environment. Sure, it is often foreign companies driving the production of pollution and many of the other ills experienced through the development of their economy, but it is up to a country as a sovereign nation to ensure the long term survival of its citizens and consequently itself, but China seems to be burning the candle at both ends as quickly as it can.
 
dpkworldwide said:
Oh, this is rich: the Chinese--you know, the land of unlimited bootlegging, counterfeits and knock-offs--are complaining that someone is infringing THEIR intellectual property rights? Of all the dashed hypocrisy...
Click to expand...

I LOL'd at that one. Well said, although some of us still turn a blind eye when we buy that $4 charging cable on ebay and don't see the Apple logo on it.
 
spillproof said:
Buy the company and then use it to test white iPhone.

PS. I trademarked the use of letter to form words. I want 800,000,000,000,000 US dollars for every letter used to create a word.
Click to expand...

LOL... I love your idea.. They just want a short cut to get rich
 
OllyW said:
Apple used to make a product called a PowerBook and you can bet they've got trademarks for that name throughout the world.

It's been over 4 years since they last sold a product with that name so do you think it's ok for someone else to use it without Apple's permission?
Click to expand...

Nice point! Isn't it?
 
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