Oh The Nerve!

Apple appears to be deeply concerned about losing ownership of the iPad trademark in China and might be thinking about a Plan B. The company reportedly is eyeing the EPAD trademark which is currently being used by a Chinese vendor on their products.

As you already know, Apple has been busy for the past few months facing numerous lawsuits regarding their trademark names and patents. They are currently having a tough time with the legal battle against Proview over the iPad name. Earlier, Proview issued a press release which detailed about Apple’s spy games.

There is a big possibility that Apple might lose the name of their greatest device and appears to have started thinking about new names for it. According to a report on Computerworld, the tech giant has filed a complaint against EBox Digital Technology Product over their use of “EPAD”. EBox received a copy of the complaint, which was filed through China’s trademark office, last month.

EBox sells a line of laptop luggage cases under the EPAD name. Apple says that the brand name closely resembles their iPad, so EBox should give it up.

EBox, which applied for the EPAD trademark back in 2010, has this to say on the matter: “The iPad trademark is not Apple’s, so now they want to take ours. Apple has been a bully“. The company reportedly is not planning to use the name on any electronic devices.

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Apple’s own Ethan Hunt might have helped the Mac maker to buy the iPad trademark from Proview, the Chinese company currently involved in a legal battle against Apple over the iPad name. But Proview has issued a press release which talks about an amended complaint filed in a California federal court which accuses Apple of “fraud and unfair competition”.

In order to get their hands on the iPad trademark, Apple allegedly hired Farncombe International and its managing director, Graham Robinson. Robinson, the real life Hunt, created a company by the name IP Application Development Limited (“IPAD Ltd.”). After adopting a false alias, Jonathan Hargreaves (the name’s Hargreaves…), Robinson contacted Proview for opening talks on the iPad name.

According to Proview, Robinson never revealed that he was negotiating on behalf of Apple. And when Proview asked for more details, he allegedly said that the name was needed as it was an acronym for IP Application Development.

And he never revealed what IPAD Ltd. was dealing with and simply said, “I’m sure you can understand that we are not ready to publicize what the company’s business is, since we have not yet made any public announcements“. Apparently he also promised via an e-mail that “the company will not compete with Proview“.

So far, Apple hasn’t made an announcement denying the allegations. But they issued the following statement: “We bought Proview’s worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago. Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple in China and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter. Our case is still pending in mainland China“.

Well, that statement definitely won’t help Apple to win the case. But we are sure that Apple’s lawyers are up to something, or else the company might end up losing the trademark in a number of countries and paying Proview a huge sum.

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For a time, Apple used U.K.-based company IP Application Development to keep the transaction from receiving public attention, but soon it became clear to Proview that Apple was the company that had purchased the rights and failed to do the same in China.

The end result? Proview of China has brought a huge lawsuit against them and is now even looking to get the courts in the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Huizhou to stop sales of the Apple tablet altogether until the matter is resolved.

Apple attempted to counter-sue arguing that it rightfully owned the iPad name, but the case was lost. They have since appealed and Xicheng district court says the matter is still under investigation. Honestly though, things don’t look good for Apple in China.

Proview has admitted its company is in fiscal trouble and the money used from this trademark suit will in fact help pull them out of it, but at least they are honest with their true intentions.

Apple could stand to lose as much as $38 million all the way up to $1.6 billion in compensation.

If Apple were to lose the lawsuits in the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Huizhou, it would only cost them a small amount of changing considering the amount of human equity China has put towards Apple in to making it what it is today.  While this certainly won’t kill Apple, due to its strong presence it other major markets like North America and Europe, it certainly isn’t something they look forward to paying but can clearly afford to.

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Photo: flickr/ell brown

The post Proview Demanding $1.6 Billion In Lawsuit Against Apple iPad Name appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

According to Netbooknews, a company named Proview Technology (Shenzhen, mainland China) has registered the “iPad” name and trademark as far back as 2000, that is, much earlier than “iSomething” naming pattern has hit the Apple.

In 2006, the Taiwanese unit of Proview Technolgies sold the trademark to a British company named IP Application Development which, in turn, transferred the “global trademark” to Apple.

So, this is a simplified outline of a story how Apple’s iPad has got its name.

The full story is much more complicated, almost like with the “Apple” trademark itself coming out of legal battles with Apple Corps., founded by The Beatles in 1968.

Chinese court decision results in that it was not a legal trademark name transfer for mainland China, or at least it was  not a “global” transfer, and China retains the title for “iPad”.

So, this Proview Technologies company (and its holding company) are seeking compensation from Apple in a total of a massive $1 billion (or even $1.5 billion, by other sources.)

For Apple, China is not a market it can ignore. I’m sure there will be information following this development in the near future, and we when it comes our way we will be sure to keep you covered.

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