Proview Technology, the Chinese company that became famous for suing Apple for the iPad trademark apparently is favoured in the lawsuit. Chinese government officials are now saying that Proview owns the iPad name and the info comes from Fu Shuangjian, a deputy director for the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
The iPad made by Proview was some sort of iMac copycat from many years ago and that trademarked name was eventually sold to another company that sold it to Apple. However local authorities don’t acknowledge that and already some minor retailers have been advised not to sell iPads any more or at least not to have them on display. Previously Apple mentioned in court that the Chinese economy would be impacted if the iPad sales were stopped, considering the huge popularity of the product. They also mentioned that right now Proview has no such product in its portofolio and basically Proview doesn’t even exist anymore, since they have no market, no products and no suppliers.
Last year a Hong Kong court decided that Apple was right in this case and that Proview and its subsidiaries actually wanted to extort money from the Cupertino giant. However, the main court in mainland China doesn’t think the same. Last I heard, Proview wanted $2 billion in compensation and right now there’s no final court ruling just yet, but with officials saying that Proview is right, I guess that will be verdict, right?
