Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,196
30,136



Last week, we offered an update on the ongoing trademark dispute in China between Apple and Proview Technology, which claims to have held ownership of the "iPad" trademark there since 2000. Apple is said to be facing a potential fine of approximately $38 million from the government while Proview is seeking as much as $1.6 billion in damages.

chinese_authorities_seized_ipads.jpg

Chinese authorities examining seized iPads

According to new reports from DigiCha (via The Next Web) and China.com.cn [Google translation] , authorities have begun taken steps related to the trademark issue, confiscating iPads discovered in retailers' shops while other retailers move proactively to remove the devices from display in order to prevent their stocks from being seized. DigiCha reports:
Apparently as a result of the Proview iPad trademark infringement verdict, some local Administrations of Industry and Commerce (AIC) have started to confiscate Apple ($AAPL) iPads they find on sale. The article claims that many stores and resellers have taken the products off their shelves to avoid discovery by authorities, but if you ask for an iPad you can still buy one.
China.com.cn notes that as of 5:00 PM yesterday authorities had seized 45 iPad 2 units from retailers, but it remains unclear whether the actions are part of an nationwide effort or if local authorities are acting on their own initiative to address the issue.

Apple believed that it had acquired the rights to the iPad trademark in China in an earlier $55,000 deal with Proview's parent company that also included European rights. But Proview's Chinese arm has argued that the Chinese rights could not have been part of the deal because those rights were not controlled by the parent company.

Apple lost a lawsuit challenging Proview's claim on the trademark late last year, and Proview is continuing to press its infringement case against Apple.

Article Link: Chinese Authorities and Retailers Removing iPads from Sale Over Trademark Issues?
 

BiigBiscuit

macrumors member
Aug 23, 2011
68
0
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)

d4rkc4sm said:
those chinese hypocrites!

Communists.
 

seamer

macrumors 6502
Jul 24, 2009
426
164
Begun taken steps!

With that out of the way, since China makes the iPads themselves and collect taxes/fees/whatever else they can, would it be a conflict of interest to turn around and apply another tax on taxes paid?
 

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
Sounds more like some local government is using the opportunity to take iPads for their own use. I wouldn't be surprised.
 

iMikeT

macrumors 68020
Jul 8, 2006
2,304
1
California
The Chinese government cracking down on Apple for trademark infringement? Please. When did the Chinese government start respecting copyrights/trademarks/patents as China is full of bootleg products?

How much will China lose in economic activity if Apple left the country?
 

AlterZgo

macrumors regular
Mar 17, 2011
111
90
The Chinese government cracking down on Apple for trademark infringement? Please. When did the Chinese government start respecting copyrights/trademarks/patents as China is full of bootleg products?

How much will China lose in economic activity if Apple left the country?

Exactly. This is so flippin' lame. China is, without a doubt, the single largest nation of copyright, trademark, and content counterfeiters in the world. They don't realize a stable and growing capitalistic society is based on strong property rights. When property rights are arbitrarily enforced or ignored, it really cuts back on people wanting to invest in that country.

Foxconn is moving production to Brazil. If this type of crap continues in China, companies will stop manufacturing and/or doing business in China. It don't matter how lucrative the Chinese market is if they can arbitrarily pull this kind of crap on you. It's like Venezuela. Anybody left out there who wants to invest in Venezuela where your business could be nationalized on a whim? I think not.

There are many other emerging economies and markets like Brazil, India, Eastern Europe, etc.
 

AlterZgo

macrumors regular
Mar 17, 2011
111
90
It's amazing that China has the gall to pull this kind of crap on Apple when native Chinese companies are doing this on a regular basis:

Chinese carmaker blatantly copies Ford F-150
Brillance's Blatant BMW Copy
Chinese Copy BMW and Mercedes

Don't see Chinese authorities cracking down on any of this stuff. At least Apple had the decency to buy the rights to the iPad name from the parent company. Who would've thought a parent company wouldn't have the right to license the trademark or name owned by one of their subsidiaries?
 

mdriftmeyer

macrumors 68040
Feb 2, 2004
3,788
1,898
Pacific Northwest
Yeah, Apple is a big company in the U.S., but it is still just one company, which is only a tiny fraction of all manufacturings in China.

I love reading about people describing China as huge and inferring the US is small.

The US GDP belies your claims of China being so big.

More to the point, the only reason China isn't a 2nd world dumping ground is due to the exploitation of cheap labor by those tiny US Corporations.

Guess what? That gravy train is running down.

China cannot afford to drop it's GDP growth or it will collapse into a deep recession and you know what happens then?

Those US Companies and European Companies will move to South America and other fertile grounds.

The balancing act between world powers hinges upon humility and when the US took control of the Industrial Revolution and IT Revolution it's quite clear that 2012 is going to turn into a second term for President Obama and that won't bode well for China as corporations take advantage of incentives to come back home.

Apple is either the first or second largest valued corporation in the Globe, irrespective of which country it leverages for manufacturing and if you think the newly authorized production capacities in Brazil won't allow Apple to relocate most, if not all of it's Manufacturing capacity to South America then you really underestimate the nations of Central and South America, never mind the US whose fabs coming on line will make a big splash by 2014.
 

macnerd93

macrumors 6502a
Nov 28, 2009
712
189
United Kingdom
I can imagine Apple's presence in china is a major economy booster for the their government. If I was in charge and with the amount of money Apple has in its cash reserves they could try and move entire production gradually and build more plants in Brazil and have more presence back in Corke Ireland again
 

Ed1024

macrumors newbie
Apr 14, 2008
13
0
England
Yes, sounds like some official wants 45 iPads.

No doubt Apple lawyers are on the case but I'd have thought the quick solution for a product being sold in China to Chinese people would be a speedy rename to & trademark of "iPab", "daPi" or whatever Mandarin characters come close to sounding like the original name. That's what many local firms do when selling knockoffs of other goods - the buyers won't realise (or care) as long as it has a big Apple logo and is the genuine article.

I'm in China tomorrow morning, so will take a look. Amazing how many people have (real) iPhones there, too.
 

selva

macrumors member
Jan 14, 2011
74
0
Apple should respond by threatening to transition manufacturing of Apple products out of Foxconn's China plant and into Foxconn's Brazil plant as they develop other manufacturing sites outside China as well.
 

thepowerofnone

macrumors member
Apr 10, 2011
97
7
The fact of the matter is even including the $1.6 billion China stands to lose a lot more than that each year if Apple pulled out and move to either Taiwan (just for spite) or Brazil. This also ignores the massive number of jobs China will lose: I know it has a population of over 1 billion but 500,000 people is still a big problem if they are unhappy about the government getting them fired over double standards.
 

prowlmedia

Suspended
Jan 26, 2010
1,589
813
London
Apple should respond by threatening to transition manufacturing of Apple products out of Foxconn's China plant and into Foxconn's Brazil plant as they develop other manufacturing sites outside China as well.

Well no... Apple should take they 80 billion and start opening their own factories in some of the Poorest states in the US? As should other companies. Whole states could become factory states with cheaper living expenses / taxes to promote people living there.

Why send any money abroad?

As to the confiscations... China Trademarks. you are having a laugh.
 

InTheUnion

macrumors regular
Apr 10, 2009
154
2
That photo looks really staged. I don't know if it's meant to or not.... but it does.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.