Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Apple Threatens to Sue Proview for Defamation as Chinese Court Asks Distributors to Pull iPads
Associated Press reports that a Chinese court has ruled against Apple in its ongoing trademark dispute with Proview Technology over the rights to the "iPad" trademark in that country, deciding that distributors should halt sales of the iPad in China. The impact of the ruling is, however, unclear as the lawsuit is just one of many Proview has filed against Apple in its efforts to extract as much as $2 billion for the trademark rights.
Meanwhile, IDG News reports that Apple sent a letter to Proview today threatening a lawsuit over defamation charges. Apple had previously won a case over the trademark rights in a Hong Kong court, and Apple's threats claim that Proview has issued false public statements regarding the dispute.
The Hong Kong court ruled last year that the various Proview subsidiaries colluded in an effort to extort millions of dollar out of Apple, a figure that has now risen to $1-2 billion as Proview has continued to press its case. Chinese courts have so far sided with Proview, however, with Apple continuing to appeal there using the Hong Kong ruling to demonstrate the strength of its case.
Update: Financial Times clarifies that the court ruling today specifically related to a single retailer, Sundan. While the impact of the decision is limited due to its effect on a single retailer in a single city and the fact that it can still be appealed by Sundan, it may provide Proview with leverage as it pursues other lawsuits against resellers to try to halt the flow of iPads and force a settlement from Apple.
Xie Xianghui, a lawyer for Shenzhen Proview Technology, said the Intermediate People's Court in Huizhou, a city in southern China's Guangdong province, had ruled on Friday that distributors should stop selling iPads in China.
The ruling, which was also reported widely in China's state media, may not have a far-reaching effect. In its battle with Apple, Proview is utilizing lawsuits in several places and also requesting commercial authorities in 40 cities to block iPad sales.
Apple Inc. said in a statement Monday that its case is still pending in mainland China. The company has appealed to Guangdong's High Court against an earlier ruling in Proview's favor.
Meanwhile, IDG News reports that Apple sent a letter to Proview today threatening a lawsuit over defamation charges. Apple had previously won a case over the trademark rights in a Hong Kong court, and Apple's threats claim that Proview has issued false public statements regarding the dispute.
On Monday, Apple sent a letter to Chinese display vendor Proview, demanding its founder Yang Rongshan cease releasing what it said was false information to the media. Apple then warned it would sue for damages caused by "defamatory statements."Apple claims that a shell company it set up for the purpose of anonymously acquiring intellectual property rights purchased the iPad trademark rights in China and a number of other countries from Proview in 2009 for $55,000. But Proview later reported that the subsidiary making the deal did not hold the Chinese rights and demanded that Apple pay $10 million before a different subsidiary would transfer the rights.
"It is inappropriate to release information contrary to the facts to the media, especially when such disclosures have the effect of wrongfully causing damage to Apple's reputation," said the letter, which was provided by a person familiar with the matter.
The Hong Kong court ruled last year that the various Proview subsidiaries colluded in an effort to extort millions of dollar out of Apple, a figure that has now risen to $1-2 billion as Proview has continued to press its case. Chinese courts have so far sided with Proview, however, with Apple continuing to appeal there using the Hong Kong ruling to demonstrate the strength of its case.
Update: Financial Times clarifies that the court ruling today specifically related to a single retailer, Sundan. While the impact of the decision is limited due to its effect on a single retailer in a single city and the fact that it can still be appealed by Sundan, it may provide Proview with leverage as it pursues other lawsuits against resellers to try to halt the flow of iPads and force a settlement from Apple.
Related Roundup: iPad
Tags: China, Proview Technology
Buyer's Guide: iPad (Buy Now)
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99 months ago
http://allthingsd.com/20120216/take-a-look-at-some-of-apples-evidence-in-proview-ipad-dispute/
The Bank of China (China-govt-operated bank) is one of Proview's creditors. Extortion on a massive scale.
99 months ago
Funny, but if the buyer is Acme, the cost is $55K, if it's Apple its $100M. How can you blame Apple for the shell company method?
99 months ago
The article links to a PC World article.
The people on that blog are real ******s.
The people on that blog are real ******s.
99 months ago
Also, Apple tried to get out of this cheap with an anonymous shell company. Clever, but it has backfired on them.
The shell company is used so trademark observers don't know Apple bought the trademark, i.e. guess Apple is coming out with a product called the iPad.
If not a simple database search would have revealed it all.
It's not just Apple who does this, pretty much standard procedure.
99 months ago
Apple tried to get out of this cheap with an anonymous shell company. Clever, but it has backfired on them.
So if you owned a trademark and were approached by a company knowing it had a $568,000,000,000 cap, you would be willing to give it up for a lousy $55,000? I THINK NOT! No large company in their right mind would ever let a trademark owner know who they really were. This isn't 'clever, it's SOP.
99 months ago
If I were Apple and other tech companies, I would start thinking about plants and fabs in countries that still have cheap labor, but have more consistant court systems.
Unfortunately, it's not just cheep labor. China has tens of thousands of engineers that Apple needs and uses to ensure manufacturing capability and capacity. The USA and other countries don't have this capability.
(Walk the MIT campus some day and note the percentage of American students. It's mostly oriental and Indian students. Our college prep is third rate compared to china and India, and it's getting worse)
99 months ago
Unfortunately, it's not just cheep labor. China has tens of thousands of engineers that Apple needs and uses to ensure manufacturing capability and capacity. The USA and other countries don't have this capability.
(Walk the MIT campus some day and note the percentage of American students. It's mostly oriental and Indian students. Our college prep is third rate compared to china and India, and it's getting worse)
Oriental? Really?
99 months ago
This coming from a multimillion dollar company that sued a small German cafe for their logo? Ironic
http://tinyurl.com/3dkdk3n (http://tinyurl.com/3dkdk3n)
Looks nothing like apples apple. Am I alone here?
99 months ago
It's not exactly . . . kosher.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient
"Because of historical discrimination against Chinese and Japanese, in some parts of the United States, the term is considered derogatory; for example, Washington state prohibits use of the word "Oriental" in legislation and government documentation, preferring the word "Asian" instead."
Every word is considered derogatory eventually it seems and we are forced on to new ones. Strangely this doesn't seem to have any real effect on how racist people are.
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