After a long period of controversy, deliberation, lawsuits and even ban from some shop windows, Apple is finally ready to settle with Chinese company Proview for the iPad trademark. As you may already know Proview already had a product called Ipad in its portofolio for years before Apple even launched a tablet.
That prompted a lawsuit, although Proview basically doesn’t even exist anymore, since they have no employees and no HQ. Their trademark was apparently bought by a company that in turn sold it to Apple, but the Chinese authorities don’t recognize that. Proview Technology registered the trademark in some countries in 2000 and Apple bought it from a subsidiary in Taiwan in 2009. Proview is saying that they didn’t sell the rights on the Chinese mainland, so that’s basically the problem.
The companies have been suing each other for a while now in Chinese courts, as Proview has been looking to ban the export of iPad-branded tablets from China. That would certainly hurt the sales of the device, since they’re actually made by Foxconn in China. In an interview with the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, Proview’s lawyer Xie Xianghui said that Apple is now open for negotiation and that the attitude is positive. I guess we’ll see a big deal with lots of money thrown around.
