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Customers test out Apple iPads in the company's flagship store in Beijing's Sanlitun area on Wednesday. A Chinese tech firm, Proview claims it still owns the iPad trademark In China and will seek a ban on exports of Apple Inc's computer tablets from China, which could deal a blow to the U.S. technology giant's sales worldwide.
BEIJING – “This is the user manual and spec sheets for the IPAD,” said Ma Dongxiao, a patent lawyer in Beijing. In his hands he held a simple black and white pamphlet that laid out the technical aspects of his client’s product.
Absent from the front page was the familiar Apple logo we have come to expect. Rather, he held just a simple description in English for a boxy wireless device shaped like an old TV that was ponderously dubbed a “Professional Color LCD Monitor.”
Simple as the device might appear, it is the linchpin in a new phase of Shenzhen-based tech company Proview’s latest attack on Apple: A restraining order filed this month in a Shanghai court demanding Apple cease using the iPad name in China.
Just days after the euphoria of a $500 stock valuation, Apple has been dealt a series of significant legal blows in China that casts doubt on the legality of the tech giant’s control of the iPad trademark here on the mainland.
And the worst might be yet to come.
The legal issue at hand for Apple is simple enough: Does the Cupertino-based company own the “iPad” trademark in China? Or does it belong to Proview (Shenzhen), a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Proview International Holdings Ltd. – at one time one of the largest manufacturers of computer displays in the world.
NBC/ITN
The cover of Shenzhen-based tech company Proview's owner's manual for their IPAD device, called a "Professional Color LCD Monitor."
Murky trademark deal
Proview began trademarking the term, “IPAD,” in China and other countries back in 2000. The company coined the name for a handheld device it claims was the actual start of what later would be dubbed “tablet computing.”
The project never came to fruition, though, and the name sat unused until 2009 – a year before the debut of the iPad we know today. That’s when Apple allegedly swooped in and paid a Proview subsidiary in Taiwan $55,000 for the trademark rights in ten countries, including they claim, China.
Not so, says Proview in Shenzhen, which argued that it – not the subsidiary in Taiwan – had registered the iPad name in China and thus controlled its trademark on the mainland.
In 2010, Proview took Apple to court in Shenzhen and won a decision last December that ruled Apple had incorrectly purchased the China trademark from the Taiwan-based subsidiary, resulting in a legally non-binding agreement.
An appeal filed last month by Apple in a Guangdong provincial court was similarly rejected, paving the way for Proview to file a slew of trademark violation complaints across China with local Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureaus. In 20 cities across four provinces, these departments began enforcing the decision, confiscating iPads from sellers and exposing Apple to fines up to five times the profit from iPad sales.
Online retailers are also taking note of the complaints, with Amazon China and Suning.com, a Chinese e-commerce site, also pulling iPads off their websites.
Undeterred, Apple has appealed the ruling to a higher Guangdong court. Carolyn Wu, a spokesman for Apple in China, told the Wall Street Journal Tuesday, “We bought Proview’s world-wide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago… Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple in China.”
More suits to come
Talking about the upcoming Shanghai suit for which Ma says arguments will begin next week, Chinese legal experts are already arguing that Apple faces long odds of winning. As one lawyer put it, Apple’s negotiating with Proview’s Taiwanese subsidiary is “like negotiating with a son and expecting the father to go along with what was agreed upon.”
NBC/ITN
The user manual for Proview's IPAD shows off its boxy wireless device shaped like an old TV. Proview claims it has the rights to the trademark "IPAD" in China , locking it in a legal battle with U.S.-based tech giant Apple.
With Proview’s ownership of the iPad trademark already established in the Shenzhen courts, it seems doubtful that the Shanghai court will side in favor of Apple and effectively overturn the appeals court in Guangdong.
Late last year, China became Apple’s second largest market after the United States. A decision against Apple that results in the ceasing of mainland iPad sales would be catastrophic for the company, which reportedly sold 15.43 million iPads in the last quarter of 2011 alone.
Even more troubling is another complaint Proview plans to file by the end of this month to China’s customs authorities that would ban the export and import of the new iPad 3. Almost all of the 30 million iPads sold last year are assembled outside the U.S., mostly in China. A successful injunction against Apple on exports of its iPad 3 would effectively make its rumored early March rollout date a pipe dream, putting a significant dent in the company’s profits.
Payday ahead for Proview?
All of these lawsuits, injunctions and complaints beg the question, what is Proview’s end game?
After all, Proview can seemingly look ahead confidently to the upcoming customs complaint and Shanghai lawsuit knowing that the Chinese courts have ruled in their favor in regards to ownership of the iPad trademark. Barring some new, compelling evidence from Apple, it will be extremely difficult for Apple to overturn two decisions in favor of Proview.
Bobby Yip / Reuters
A man walks on a bridge in front of the derelict office of Proview Technology in China's southern city of Shenzhen on Wednesday.
So what does Proview want?
The lawyer, Ma, played coy in answering that question and simply said he hoped that the two parties would be able to settle their disputes out of court. Indeed, a settlement between Apple and Proview is increasingly looking like an expensive proposition for the American tech company and a financial windfall for the cash-strapped Proview.
However, rumors of Proview seeking a $1.6 billion dollar payout may seem almost reasonable to Apple if Proview’s multiple suits successfully pass through Chinese courts and an embargo on shipments of iPad 3s is enacted. Although, it’s important to remember that Apple reportedly has $97.6 billion in cash reserves, so a $1.6 billion payout wouldn’t exactly break their bank.
Despite the long legal odds against Apple, and Proview seemingly sitting in the driver’s seat, the chances of such a doomsday scenario occurring seem distant as both sides appear even more poised for a settlement.
After all, while China’s expansive, albeit limitedly enforced, intellectual property laws currently favor Proview, it seems doubtful that a Chinese ruling blocking the shipment of iPad to countries where Apple legally owns the trademark would hold up in a complaint among the bodies that regulate international trade.
Furthermore, during these trying economic times globally, it would simply be foolhardy for China’s Customs Bureau – and by extension, the ruling Communist Party – to invite the swift international condemnation that would inevitably follow any blocking of Apple exports.
Ultimately, as Stan Abrams of the China Hearsay blog put it, Proview’s best strategy would seemingly be to wreak enough legal havoc for Apple so that the disruption of exports, while not an inevitability, would be a big enough threat to bring them to the settlement table.
Whatever decisions are made in the next few weeks, Apple will surely pay dearly for its first significant blunder since its entry into the China market.
Leave a Comment:
We understand, mentioning "Apple" gets a lot of clicks. But you are making a mountain out of a molehill. Apple is just angling to squeeze the smallest possible settlement it can get out of the extortionists at Proview. They could settle this in one second if they want to but it's not good for business to let everyone know that you're a soft touch.
Do you seriously think China will let some near-bankrupt company shut down a manufacturing operation employing hundreds of thousands of Chinese?
Exactly. If Apple were to sense that this could go against them, they'd stretch it out as long as possible (they have the cash to do it) while ramping up production either here or another country. I think Foxconn has a Brazillian operation that Apple's also making use of. As for here, I know one of their issues has been people in the US not having the skill set needed to do the job (besides, I'm sure, the labor savings) but if they invest some of their money in training, you could see that unemployment rate drop some more. Especially with the story on MSNBC's homepage about third-shift workers being hired for the auto industry...you know Apple wants virtually 24/7 production going.
"not having the skill set needed to do the job". That's laughable. It has nothing to do with skills and everything to do with working for minuscule wages with no bathroom breaks.
aardman nailed it...
I would just rename the product for the Chinese market. Call it the iSuk.
@aardman,
Did you stop to think that Foxxcon is not a "Chinese" company? It is a Taiwanese company (real name: Hon Hai Precision Industry Company) that makes/asembles about 40% of all consumer electronics worldwide. Its mainland Chinese operations are only a tiny part of its overall business model. And Apple is only a tiny portion of the mainland Chinese operation.
And did you stop to think that Proview is not a near-bankrupt company as you state, but the Chinese subsidiary of a very large Hong Kong technology manufacturer?
And did you stop to think that this is a lawsuit of a Hong Kong-based company against an American company who uses a tiny portion of China's labor force, and even that is a by a Taiwan-based company? The Chinese government would love to see all three companied thrash one another to death.
And underneath it all is that to Far East in general and China in particular, patents and copyrights are a very new thing. The Confucian government model always assumed that ideas and products were for the public good without charge.
I guess that's the cost of doing business with criminals, I mean communists. The technical business term is "shakedown".
@Chris749391
Okay, my bad, Hon Hai is Taiwanese. But the important factor here is Chinese employees. You think China will just sneer at hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs in one fell swoop? By the way the Apple business is not a 'tiny portion' of Hon Hai's business. Hon Hai employs about a million people, about 250 thou of that are assembling Apple products. In what universe is 25% a tiny portion?
Oh and by the way, Hong Kong is part of China although the Hong Kong Chinese try to pretend they're not.
Yes, I do. In a heartbeat - if it involved said leaders making a profit/fellcing/kickback over it. Which is little different than Congressmen here in the US.
Proview is a dead company.
This is nothing more than an extortion attempt.
Apple, just pick another name for the iPad in the Chinese market and tell Proview to go pound salt.
.
Maybe Apple is getting a taste of its own medicine. Aren't they suing Samsung all over the world, claiming copyright/patent infringement?
Boast about $1 billion per month and $500 share price and you're bound to stir something up.
Funny how apple sues the crap out of everyone for patent infringement and then cries foul when they've been beaten at their own game.
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Yawn...another liberal media article trying to bash Apple....
Anyone else see why we shouldnt be doing business in China? Move everything to Taiwan (or news flash, the US) and piss the Chinese off even more. Then rename the iPad like someone mentioned about for the Chinese market.
I keep hoping that China will hang itself with all its patent stealing cloned products and swap meet ripoffs and companies will start leaving China in droves, then their people will overthrow the govt, the country will fall into ruin. Also it would be nice to see American companies be penalized for not doing their manufacturing over here to the point where it will be cheaper to build it in the USA instead of paying all the fines. Im just sayin'.
Christ !! You'd need a wheelbarrow to haul that Chinese "IPAD" around !!
The two products are so distinctly different that no one could confuse them even if they did have the same name.
Proview IPAD = BIG & CLUNKY
Apple iPad = Slim & Stylish
.
Steve Jobs can give me a B!OW JOB’ he sold out Americans jobs!!!!!
@bedbug007
Dey took ouur derps!
1. Apple computers stole the name from APPLE music, founded by the Beatles. Then tied it up in courts when APPLE Music sued and it went on for many many years when finally it was settled just a few years ago.
2. Steve jobs was a greedy egotistical prick and cared nothing for anyone and loved ONLY MONEY. This is well documented now with his family history and his Stolen name company.
3. Apple sold out America along time ago and shipped its manufacturing to the cheapest slave labor nations for over a decade now. Why is anyone surprised.
4. Apple is THE LARGEST CORPORATION in the entire world. They can and will do what ever they damn please and there is not jack anyone posting here can do about it. You and your entire family could never fathom the HEAT APPLE money can reign on you.
5. As a double Bachelors Engineer, with one being Electronic Engineering and the other Computer Science, and being age 50, I have and never will buy a apple product. Apple products are over hyped and extremely proprietary. They perform under spec and are a serious costly issue to fix for ANY reason.
6. Apple culture = Secret Corporate Greed.
7. January 17th, 2012 Quote: Steve Wozniak - My primary phone is the iPhone,' said Wozniak.
'I love the beauty of it. But I wish it did all the things my Android does, I really do.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2087731/Apple-founder-Steve-Wozniak-says-Android-phones-offer-iPhone.html#ixzz1mW50De4K
8. Steve Jobs horded his money, even from his own immediate family, while his "Frenemy" Bill Gates now runs the LARGEST philanthropic orginization in the world.
-------
On a final note:
Apple Computers = Everything in the world that disgust me about humanity in general and what is wrong in America today.... Politically, Economically, Environmentally and Socially. Facebook is a close second.
maybe if apple would actually manufacture their products in the US instead of doing it like EVERY OTHER COMPANY and pawning it off to a country where labor laws are @!$%#, they wouldnt have this problem. But NO, they have to go for MAXIMUM PROFIT, instead of making a product that is actually built by people making a decent wage and not being subjected to crippling work conditions.
Serves them right. I hope they pay every cent of the supposed $1.6 billion settlement. It may not really do much to hurt their bottom line, but perhaps losing more than a percent of the value of the company in one shot will open their eyes.
You don't need to know anymore than the Communist Government of China has already told the courts what to decide. You aren't doing business in America. And there is a cost for that. Those new aircraft carriers aren't cheap.
Crapple decided to try to go cheap on the trademark purchase by contracting with a subsidiary - $55K for rights to the name of a billion dollar product - that was short-sighted and frankly I'm pretty darn sure someone at Apple thought they were pulling a smart fast one on ProView. This issue falls completely at their own feet - AND you better believe if the situation was reversed (e.g.: ProView trying to sell a product called iPhone for which Crapple has a clearly established trademark) they'd have sued ProView into oblivion. Crapple would be well suited to settle now - this one is pretty damn cut and dried.
"James-546195-1049965
Yawn...another liberal media article trying to bash Apple...."
--Yes because reporting the facts is liberal. What a troll...
@SoItGoes78
U R a F@G-IT!
P Henry,
I know you like to believe that based on your previous posts as well. I just don't know if you're involved in hiring into this sector at all. I have been involed with this sector for quite a few years, and I can tell you for sure it is a HUGE problem hiring skilled Engineers in the U.S. and it's getting more and more difficult year over year.
Not as in - oh, it takes a few weeks or months to find someone - it takes YEARS sometimes to fill some positions even with nationwide searches.
I'm not an Apple fan, but when the New York Times reports that one of the main reasons Apple has operations in China is that they can hire thousands of Engineers in 15 days when they need to staff for a new product, where it would take several months in the U.S. I can 100% sympathize with them.
When we have positions open for that long, eventually we'll give up after a while and hire H1B's (which you also have a problem with). H1B's are MUCH more expensive than U.S. hires (think $75'000 recruiting, legal, visa, renewal, relocation cost on average), and it takes months or years to even get the H1B visa granted, and then you have to deal with renewals and other crap year over year. And we pay H1B Engineers the same as U.S. citizens (employees tend to talk to each other, so it's a really bad internal political move to do otherwise, never mind illegal). So really H1B is just a cost and hassle. There is NO financial upside to it, we just get to hire into a position which we can't otherwise fill. It's a desperation move - not a cost saving move.
Geez, we now even have one of the guys in my group live in a border city in Canada and drive 3 hours across the border a few times a week to attend design discussions - just because we can't get any more H1B visas. He gets paid exactly the same as his U.S. Colleagues (about $150k). So you think we go through stuff like that because we want to save money??
The U.S. absolutely needs to invest in fixing Education throughout the board, be it quality, cost, access and even things like the lack of women in the tech sector here (much less of a problem in China). Education is the foremost biggest obstacle to solving this issue. The Chinese and Indian governments understood this well, and their economies are now reaping the benefit from this.
But, no. Big Government can't fix anything right?
Borlock Gay,
I do not believe YOU!!!!!
Ok, here are some facts for you:
* Computer Science is the 2nd highest paid undergrad degree, yet from the projected 1.4 million Computer Specialist jobs in the U.S. by 2018, only 29% can be met by US graduates.
* The number of U.S. Computer Science graduates actually decreased from 2004 to 2010 by almost 50% (21000 to 12501).
* Only 13% of U.S. CS graduates are women, and 4% black, far lower than the general population proportions.
* At high-school level, only 8 states recognize CS as a math or science credit. Only 21'139 kids took the CS AP last year compared to 97'799 taking the Environmental Science AP. Not that the environment isn't important but try getting a $60k+ entry salary and 6 figures within 5 years by debating polar bears. (Yes it happens for some, but I'm talking norms here).
This is a HUGE problem and only going to get bigger, whether you believe it or not.
But hey, I can make my $300k per year (purely technical job - I'm not a manager, nor self-employed) even though I only had 3 years of college + experience because there is so little other competition in the field. So it works out well for me. For now... Problem is that with so few other people entering the sector, the sector is going to die off when it becomes impossible to compete with countries that DO actually produce engineers and can design and invent (not just assemble) better products.
PS: I assume my name quote was a typo and you didn't actually think that was an insult.
Apple should just rename it to i-Pad or "The iPad" and be done with this nonsense.
They may be able to rename it, and they may do that, but I think it may require a bit more of a name change than that to satisfy patent infringement requirements. Kinda like Autozone used to be called AutoShack before the legal action from Radio Shack resulted in their name change to Autozone.
I still think it should've been called the Apple "Slate". Drop the "i" prefix. It made sense back in the late 90s when the "i" in "iMac" referred to its latent internet-enabled capabilities, but really in the modern world, everything has internet capability. It would be like calling a Honda Civic the "Land Vehicle Honda Civic", as if there is any alternative method of conveyance by car.
Plus, changing the name to Slate would pave the way for some major hardware improvements. The problem with keeping the same name is that each subsequent version is expected to be fairly similar to the last. A complete name change would open the possibility of a completely new product. Then there's all the advertising they could work up, what with ancient philosphers commonly using slate as their sketchpads for ideas and artwork...
If Apple called it the "Slate", they would then be infringing on HP's Slate, which is a tablet computer.
A name change would be the quickest and least expensive way for Apple to get out of this bind, and I can think of several possibilities: Do-pad, Pippin (Apple already trade-marked it), Newton II, Go-Touch, Go-pad, Art-Pad. Nu-Pad, etc.
But they'd better do a thorough worldwide trademark search to avoid any other potential lawsuits.
ApplePad or ApPad
Doing business in China just got a little bit more expensive.
China, being the scum it is... trying as always getting something from nothing... they invent the worlds junk products, and then manufacturer worlds best products developed by other countries since they can't!
...which is why I don't buy anything from China, "Korea", Viet Nam or (if I ever saw it) Cuba or Burma unless there is *no* alternative.
Let me tell you, it's not easy.
Everything that goes up, has to come down...that's the real world, Apple
Did anyone notice the 'iPad' shown in the pictures was a near-knockoff of the iMac ? What's with that ?
Seems like some industrial parasitism going on here.
Apple patent trolls the @!$%# out of everyone, hailed as protecting their property.
Apple gets patent trolled by company they stole something from, other company called scum.
Stay classy iTards.
Where but China could Apple get 4,000 employess housed in dorms, instead of houses, within a mile of the plant?
Finally apple got a taste of its own medicine. They deserve this. They are patent trolls indeed.
The US should also act upon Chinese companies here and block imports that contain stolen\borrowed IP.
The Chinese may wind up shooting themselves in the foot if they make it too risky for foreign countries to do business with them. Of course it kind of serves Apple right to have abandoned America and put all their "Apples" in one Chinese barrel. They knew the Chinese were not be trusted, but they were greedy and did it anyway.
crane, are you saying America should have Apple's back? After what JOb's said to Obama about the jobs never returning here? I say leave them out to dry and clean up the mess they created for themselves. It may be a humbling experience that will show then that they are in fact not 'the sh*t' that they think they are.
@Terry,
The Chinese government has very little at stake -- a few thousand jobs in a hot sector. Apple is an American company --- the Chinese government is not harmed or helped by anything they harms or helps Apple. Foxxcon is a mega-huge Taiwanese company and its mainland operations are only a small part of its revenue. The Chinese government would actually like to see Foxxcon fail because they hate to see Taiwanese companies succeed. And then there's Proview which is Hong Kong-based and the Chinese government is not all that hot to see HK companies succeed either. It would be difficult how any of this would hurt the Chinese government. This in no way an interaction with the Chinese government and it would be unlikely that anyone would see this as increasing risk vis-a-vis the Chinese government. It might have been different if any of the companies were Chinese.
Just to echo Chris, the Chinese goverment is actually operating from a position of power. China currently has a death grip on tech companies ability to produce product because of China's control over Rare Earth Elements/Metals (REE). Plenty of tech vendors would love to move their operations out of China but currently cant because of the limited access to REE at the moment. As the world races to bring REE mines online, expect to see the majority of Tech Companies maintaining operations in China so that they have access to REE. China could actually care less about Apple's problems because in the short term, Apple has to do business in China anyways. In the long term, once the rest of the world has invested heavily in REE mines, they can flood the market with cheaper REEs or Tech and collect huge profits. Finally they have a huge market that no tech company in its right mind would abandon.
So basically Apple is in an incredibly bad position. Personally I could care less about Apple. Karma is a *****.
or, how about, "The device formerly known as the iPad"
A short guy from Minneapolis might have something to say about that...
Do the Chinese REALLY want a copyright/trademark/patent fight? To them that's a one way street. EFF the Chinese!
Technically it is a four lane highway that has been barricaded off by Chinese tanks and military police that shoot anyone trying to come down it while they let sleeper agents through to sue other companies over infringement issues.
This is what we get when we allow our corporations to outsource - Other countries get to trademark OUR products, legally stealing our technology. Stop all tax breaks & subsidies for outsourcing.
Obama 2012.
Actually, Proview trademarked the name long before Apple ever came up with the idea for the Ipad. Remember, the trademark was filed in 2000, and Apple only sought to buy the trademark in 2009. Not that I'm sticking up for either side here, just wanting to clarify the facts.
Maybe these products should be built in the USA......again
And you are willing to pay $4K for your iPad?
...does Apple HAVE to make 54% profit margin?
Omni potent one: So where do you get the $4k figure from? Right now, I won't pay $499 for an IPad or for any company's product whose top person says, "a cup of tea and a biscuit and back to work" to any human being. I was all set to buy one till that moment!
Sandy,
So in context of the "cup of tea and a biscuit" quote, I take it you're referring to the part of the NYT article that is about rousing the workforce at a dime for a 12 hour shift, and how many of those employees work that for even 6 days a week.
There have been numerous postings all over the web about this, and how this somehow constitutes "slave labor".
I'm just amazed how people are so outraged by that! Those hours and the short notice are common all over the tech sector - even in the U.S. It's what we sign up for. We know the deal when we start. You sometimes go through 6 month stretches of 80 hour weeks, and that's just life - again - even in the U.S. This has little to do with labor laws in China or exploitation or slavery. It's the tech sector - it's how we roll.
Coincidentally, I've personally worked a 15 hour day today, and I'm actually just taking a break to wait for a piece of work from 2 other colleagues (who also worked 15 hour days today) and after that I'm going to continue on for probably another 3 or 4 hours. (And no, as salaried regulars we don't get paid hourly or get any overtime).
And I don't consider myself or any of my colleagues "slaves", and I'm also driven by "tea and biscuits" (coffee and bagels in my case). We're simply busy shipping a product, and we want to see it succeed and we know what's required to do that. If the FoxConn employees did not know what they signed up for before they started, they may be considered slaves, but that's certainly not the case.
Yeah, it may be nicer if FoxConn paid their employees $3000 per month instead of $300, but I've also lived in a 3rd world country for many years, earning one tenth of what I do now, yet had a higher standard of living. So it's tough making a direct comparison and judgment about somebody else's situation just based on numbers.
Let's rather fix the problems in this country that almost forces companies to outsource (education and infrastructure being the two largest issues), and stop trying to find inherit evilness everywhere. There is some degree of evilness, for sure, but we have very real problems here that far overshadows that. And we CAN do something about those.
Couldnt happen to a "nicer" company. Greed karma at it's worst.
www.washingtonpost DOT com/business/economy/record-thin-on-steve-jobss-philanthropy/2011/10/06/gIQA3YKKRL_story.html
The US gov't incentives aren't driving production overseas, it's the receiving end's incentives that's driving the jobs overseas. China has an abundant supply of human bots.
Instead of paying out for a settlement Apple should take that money and hire Americans to make it in the US. Let the Chinese government deal with the black market imports on the iPad and the loss of the manufacturing jobs while Americans get those jobs and an increase in manufacturing. Win - Win as I see it.
But then Apple employees would have to be paid more than a dollar a day! We can't have decent wages!
I suppose the short scenario that Apple can propose to the Chinese people is thus: "Very well. We'll stop manufacturing the iPad in your country, and stop selling it on your shelves. All sales of the device are now prohibited, on account of this company *pointing to Proview*, which refuses to offer any such product as compensation."
I'm still a big proponent for trademarks becoming null and void when not acted upon or capitalized on. If somebody decided to trademark "the computer" as a general term, but simply sat upon that name and never once made a product bearing it, I think all other companies have a right to disregard such a useless claim. Companies like Proview, which either register future trademarks or sit on old ones solely for the purpose of extortion, deserve the inevitable bankruptcy they all face. Make money off of your own product, not someone else's. If somebody else makes a product with the name of your non-existant one, and you really want to seek damages, pursue it when the product is first released. Don't wait endlessly just so that you can collect a higher payout. That's about as dishonest as business gets.
To quote a Chinese proverb (fitting, I think): "The man who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the man doing it." To paraphrase for this scenario, "The company who never develops a trademark should not be entitled to go after the company successfully doing so."
In the meantime, I think I'm going to go out and register trademarks with the names "thruster", "laser gun", and "hyperspace". I figure I'll make a killing in about fifty years when I sue the entire space industry for the use of MY original product names... best part is, I won't even have to make a product!
Yeah, that will scare them! Now in what country is that plant located? HUM! Sounds a bit like a problem!
Capitalism at its best.
How about Apple just move all their operations out of China as well as not sell any of their products in China? They don't need China as much as Chinese people need them and their products.
They're too greedy, China's the 2nd largest sales region for them, and the savings on labor they accrue in China is likely far more than any settlement they'll have to pay Proview.
Serves Apple right for making all their products in China. Great product but it would be nice if they could make some of them in the USA with legal age workers.
Go for it China, put the screws to them.
Apple has been the big bully on the block to long. Time to a taste of your own medicine.
Jobs nothing more than the angry super sales man. Steve Wozniak the real inventor behind Apple
Taiwan deal+Chinese Manufacturing+Money+trademark laws+intellectual property+Cummucapitalism = trouble for Apple
It'll be interesting to see how this one pans out. I feel certain that Apple will pay out a large sum of money to resolve the trademark infringement.
They're caught in a speedtrap where the speed limits were posted in Chinese.
I just wonder if we will extradite Apple's Board of Directors to China and impound all of their homes and cars for copyright infringement? New Zealand did it for us, why can't we do it for for China?
Well, if Apple wouldn't have gone to a sister company and went to the source instead of trying to pay the lowest amount possible none of this would have happened. It's just a view into Apple bullying companies and I really hope the Chinese stick it to them. Just because they are Chinese doesn't mean they can be taken advantage of by an American Corporation.
The US market accounts for the lion's share of profits that propelled Apple to its current $100bn war chest. Cook should now concentrate on what's good for his country, and therefore what's again good for Apple's shareholders. Ergo, Cook should build manufacturing facilities here in the U.S. and abandon the likes of Foxconn and the entirety of foreign labor. Americans built Apple, and Americans deserve payback from Apple's success (which of course again will help Apple). After all, if foreign brands like Nissan, Toyota and others have successful manufacturing operations here, making them more of an "American" brand than the so-called American auto-makers, why is Apple supposedly too inept to duplicate such success? Are the Japanese folks smarter than Americans?
Begin to move operations to another country and start shutting down in China. We'll see who flinches first. LOL!
They should bring these jobs home, anyway.
Not over the barrel! In the barrel.. Apple Sucks.
Let them sue. Then we'll get on about suing the Chinese for copying nearly every car and CD we marketed.
Can't think of a company more deserving to get screwed.
China thinks it has an upper hand because all of Apples manufacturing is being done there. Apple is stretching this out to see where it can start up it's new plants and then it's going to show China, this doesn't go our way we go away. You loose jobs and trade.
If a company has a global sourcing strategy that is in effect outsourcing everything to one country then they get what they had coming to them. Pretty sure they should have spent some of that $100 billion in cash - guess they will soon.