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Apple Faces Potential $38 Million Fine in China as $1.6 Billion Lawsuit Over 'iPad' Trademark Proceeds
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Pot, kettle, black. China is a country of fakes and forgeries. Yet when companies like BMW try to sue them for blatantly copying the X5, they end up losing!
Brazil... India maybe... There are several other economies at the same point that would likely take on these jobs.
Not to mention the lines outside the new foxconn plant. The Chinese people NEED these jobs. It would be stupid for China to make things hard on Apple.
If I had to guess... I'd say the product that you're describing already exists in China
That isn't strictly true:
We have a couple of these monitors at the office. And I can assure you they're older than 2010.
The original comment as to whether Proview had any products referred to iPad as a product, and that is highly unlikely before the company was able to buy copies of the iPad parts and plans from Foxconn et al where it was being manufactured.
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Proview Technology is the Chinese arm of Proview International Holdings, a Hong Kong-based maker of crystal displays and other products.
China is China. If Apple bought the rights to the use of the iPad name from Proview, it should not matter that it was from the Hong Kong, China office or the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, China.
Millions and billions over a name. Wow. I think I'll go trademark a bunch of names and hope Apple would like to purchase one sometime
Like someone said before its a money grab, the Chinese support the Chinese corporations. It's very hard to make a case against most Chinese corporations in their own country. They also want money from foreign companies or to make difficult for them to sell so they can capitalize on the market. Also it is a very slippery slope, the minute apple backs down without a fight people know they can get away with a lot more.
Actually, it should be just the opposite. Apple should tell China that if they lose the lawsuit, they will STOP manufacturing in China and move manufacturing to Thailand, Singapore, India, etc. See if China wants to lose the jobs and the prestige.
In the end, Apple and the company suing will either settle for some reasonable fee (most likely), or Apple will rebrand the device in China. But this is typical example of how Apple's arrogance has gotten them into trouble. They tend to use whatever names they want and worry about the legal ramifications later. They've got to stop doing that.
That is exactly what I would think because the Parent company is then illegally selling things that they don't own. It appears that Apple had the intention of purchasing iPad name from them, they made the transaction but as it is turning out they didn't have the rights to sell it; thus they should be sued for all of the 1.6B + damages of at least another 1.6B; of for the subsidiary to transfer rights of the name as originally intended.
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Millions and billions over a name. Wow. I think I'll go trademark a bunch of names and hope Apple would like to purchase one sometime
Lots of people already do this. Some make money, others don't.
I suspect packing up, building new factories, training, delays in manafacturing and lost sales with the iPad 3 coming which will already stretch manufacturing to a point where it cannot meet demand..... Is going to be way more then 1.6 classic case of having Apple by the balls! Hey no one forced apple to get greedy and move their manufacturing to china
Ramifications are simple, a few apple lawyers are sending their cvs out...Between this and the patent litigation - I'm fairly convinced Steve and Apple are using the "It's easier to be forgiven (read: delay payments, ignore) than ask permission (read: pay)" route. Granted - they THOUGHT they had bought iPad from the right parties.
Me thinks there's a lawyer who might not be getting a reference letter from Tim...
Me thinks there's a lawyer who might not be getting a reference letter from Tim...
Let me fix that for you:
This forum really needs to get its act back together sometimes.
When MacRumours had rumours about Macs (before it became "all IOS, all the time"), it was much more reasonable.
It's gone downhill since Apple dropped "Computer" from its name....
So company A should just be grateful that a foreign company gives company B work and therefore happily give away their protected trademark for free?
If anything, THAT would be communism, where companies aren't competing but all owned and controlled by the government.
I don't know.... they paid the parent company for the trademark in advance. How often does a subsidiary get to sue after the parent company sells something. This was very underhanded of them if they are playing at a loophole.
What should they apologize for? For getting duped into thinking they bought the iPad name from them then their local subsidiary in China turns around and sues them for using it. That sounds like setting the bait for the lawsuit and Apple taking it and then getting sued. Sounds like Apple is owed an apology.
They should name it with an emoticon symbol and then folks could simply call it "The tablet formerly known as iPad"
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Bingo. These parent/child companies should not be able to get away with this sort of underhanded stuff and loopholes in local law. Apple should file lawsuit against the parent. Apple's losses for changing the iPad name at this point should far exceed $1.6B. Let's see how fast the local subsidiary changes their tune once the parent gets a fat lawsuit.
I agree. Plus, iPad is with a lower case i, and I-Pad is with a upper case I. Quite different in my book. That's almost as big a difference as Sony is to Sanyo.
Funny how Apple is always innocent of infringement when there's the most miniscule difference but any company that creates a product that is even only remotely similar to an Apple product is stealing. As someone has already pointed out; will it be alright to create a product called I-Phone?
So using blackmail to try and affect the outcome of a process of the law, is that the american or the Apple way?
Oh the irony. Apple goes to China to take full advantage of China's lack of adherence to labor laws and devastating track record of human rights violations. And not to mention taking full advantage of the sub $1/hr wages. They know full well China doesn't care about it's people. Apple know full well they can tell the press how much they emphasize how they demand their supply chain to treat their workers fairly all the while knowing full well what kind of Government runs China. Now China comes back and demands over a billion dollars to use the iPad name. Poetic justice.
Let's get one thing straight. Apple didn't go to China with all those jobs for the betterment of the people of China. They went their for one thing and one thing only, fattening their own pockets. Karma's a Beezatch.
Let's get one thing straight. Apple didn't go to China with all those jobs for the betterment of the people of China. They went their for one thing and one thing only, fattening their own pockets. Karma's a Beezatch.
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People in this forum are hopelessly biased when it comes to China.
I believe any western court would do exactly say thing and make Apple pay larges sums of damages if this happens in any other country.
Facts are very simple:
The Chinese company actively used I-pad trademark way before apple did and legally owns the trademark.
The Chinese company's offshore parrent agreed to sell the trademark owned by its Chinese subsidiary to Apple.
But at the time the parent enter into the agreement, the Chinese company was already at the brink of bankruptcy and has a lot of creditors chasing for debt repayment.
If it wasnt because of the bankruptcy, Apple can sue the parent and held them liable for transferring the trademark from its subsidiary.
But now that bankruptcy is ongoing, the Chinese company will not be allowed to dispose its asset freely without consent of the receiver/creditors.
It's a simple rule that if you are insolvent, your creditor can apply for an injunction against you from transferring any asset to third parties at a low price without creditor consent.
Most importantly, the parent and the Chinese companies are completely different legal entities and the Chinese company is not bound by the trademark transfer agreement. Apple can only rely on the parent for perfirmance of the agreement. Now that the Chinese subsidiary becomes bankrupt, it's parrent loses the legal capacity to determine the transfer of the subsidiary's asset with all those creditors chasing the subsidiary for debt repayment. And from the perspective of the receivers/creditors, there is no doubt that Apple in committing trademark infringement.
I believe any western court would do exactly say thing and make Apple pay larges sums of damages if this happens in any other country.
Facts are very simple:
The Chinese company actively used I-pad trademark way before apple did and legally owns the trademark.
The Chinese company's offshore parrent agreed to sell the trademark owned by its Chinese subsidiary to Apple.
But at the time the parent enter into the agreement, the Chinese company was already at the brink of bankruptcy and has a lot of creditors chasing for debt repayment.
If it wasnt because of the bankruptcy, Apple can sue the parent and held them liable for transferring the trademark from its subsidiary.
But now that bankruptcy is ongoing, the Chinese company will not be allowed to dispose its asset freely without consent of the receiver/creditors.
It's a simple rule that if you are insolvent, your creditor can apply for an injunction against you from transferring any asset to third parties at a low price without creditor consent.
Most importantly, the parent and the Chinese companies are completely different legal entities and the Chinese company is not bound by the trademark transfer agreement. Apple can only rely on the parent for perfirmance of the agreement. Now that the Chinese subsidiary becomes bankrupt, it's parrent loses the legal capacity to determine the transfer of the subsidiary's asset with all those creditors chasing the subsidiary for debt repayment. And from the perspective of the receivers/creditors, there is no doubt that Apple in committing trademark infringement.
So true - you only need to look at the court cases from the car manufactures like the BMW case of the clone X5 - identical looking car but Chinese courts threw it out because it was made in china.
this is nothing more than extortion from the Chinese government.... this is how they treat foreigners in Asia...now as far as Apple needing China for manufacturing that remains to be seen... one plant in Brazil will not be able to carry the load alone...this amounts to a paid indulgence...probably retaliation for the US government taxing chinese shrimp or something