Apple defended its right to use the iPad trademark in China in a heated
court hearing Wednesday that pitted the electronics giant against a
struggling company that denies it sold the mainland China rights to the
tablet's name.
Shenzhen Proview Technology's lawyer Xie Xianghui argued that the sale
of the iPad trademark to Apple Inc. by Proview's Taiwan affiliate in
2009 was invalid.
"Apple has no right to sell iPads under that name," Xie said. Apple
countered that Proview violated the sales contract by failing to
transfer the trademark rights in mainland China.
It also contends that the Chinese LCD maker has not marketed or sold its
own "IPAD," or Internet Personal Access Device for years, thus possibly
invalidating its claim to the trademark.
The hearing adjourned after a fractious four-hour session which saw the
judge repeatedly admonishing both sides to observe proper court protocol
as they argued across the courtroom. No date was announced for a
judgment or further hearings.
Proview is suing to stop Apple selling the iPad in China under that
name. It has also asked commercial authorities in many cities to stop
sales of the device. So far, iPads have been pulled from shelves in some
Chinese cities but there has been no sign of action at the national
level.
No comments:
Post a Comment