Proview, Not Apple, Owns iPad Name in China, Court Says

Apple can’t call the iPad the iPad in China. A trademark infringement suit Apple filed after its application for ownership of two Chinese trademarks – iPad and IPAD – was thrown out of court. The Chinese trademark office said a local contract manufacturer called Proview Technology that makes flat panel displays and is reportedly close to bankruptcy owns the name and the court agreed. Proview claims it reserved the rights to the name when a Taiwan subsidiary of Hong Kong parent company Proview International sold the supposedly global trademark to IP Application Development, a British company, in 2006 for roughly $55,000. Apple bought the name from the Brits but Proview claims the deal didn’t include China. It says it’s had dibs on the name in China since 2001, 10 years before Apple’s iPad appeared, and used it on a failed tablet back then. It’s also reportedly registered the name in Europe, Mexico, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

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