Chinese Company Owns iPad Trademark

In another twist in China's continuing unabashed intellectual property infringement, a Chinese company has registered the trademark "iPad" in China.  Its registration allowed it to have authorities seize the ubiquitous tablet from store shelves in Northern China.  The Chinese company is Proview Technology.

Apple is fairly aggressive in protecting its intellectual property--it has chased Samsung with patent infringement lawsuits all over the world.  Unsurprisingly, Apple filed suit in a Chinese court to reclaim its iPad name.  The Court rejected Apple's lawsuit.  According to Proview, Apple did not follow Chinese law, and therefore, it is confident in its ability to succeed in the numerous lawsuits Proview filed against Apple over the name.  Proview has filed the lawsuits all over China.

Apparently, Proview registered the iPad name in several Asian countries, Mexico, and in Europe as early as 2000.  Proview, a Taiwanese company that primarily manufactures  flat screen displays, sought to launch its own tablet under the name.  The launch proved unsuccessful and it owes creditors several hundred million dollars. Not to mention that Proview's chairman filed for bankruptcy. This means that Proview is looking to make money with these seizures.  Apple is enjoying world-wide growth in the tablet area.  Thus, it is a perfect target for a company like Proview to use the Chinese courts to extort settlement payments from Apple.  At least, that is my guess as to what Proview is doing. 

Given the value of the iPad name to Apple, Apple may have no choice but to acquiesce to Proview.  In fact, apparently believing in the strength of its position, Proview sued in a California state court accusing Apple of forming an company in England for the purpose of registering the "iPad" name for Apple.  Proview claims that such conduct by Apple is fraud based on Proview's allegation that the London company sought to purchase (not license) the "iPad" name from Proview.  Proview believes that the London company should have disclosed the fact that it was seeking the name for Apple or that the name would be used for a tablet computer.  Notably, this lawsuit is not framed as one involving trademark infringement.  It is definitely creative and keeps the matter out of Federal Court.

Clearly, Proview is seeking to get Apple to pay it ot settle these lawsuits.