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Proview v. Apple: It's All Getting More Interesting

This article is more than 10 years old.

The Guardian has a piece on th Proview v. Apple battle over the rights to the iPad brand. The whole thing is interesting but this is new information to me at least:

On 27 January 2010, Apple announced the iPad.

A week later, with Proview shares still trading heavily, the company conceded the truth of a report by Beijing Daily that China rights to the iPAD trademark were owned by its Shenzhen subsidiary. It was now clear Proview had sold trademarks to Apple – but not all of them.

So this has all been going on for nearly two years now. Yes, Proview is pretty much bust, about to lose its stock market listing, the head honcho of Proview has already been declared personally bankrupt (he was personally guaranteeing  loans to Proview which the company then defaulted on). It also appears to be true that the real driving force behind the battle with Apple is not Proview nor it's ex-CEO, but rather the banks which are owed the money by the company. They see the iPad brand as being the last asset that the company owns that has any value at all.

But the bit that interests is that the claim that the China rights were never sold to Apple is not some recent invention. Proview has been saying this for two years now, almost from the moment that the rights to the name in other territories were sold to Apple.

And Proview has opened a new front on that issue as well:

Now Proview appears to be stepping up its media campaign by issuing a lengthy press release and attaching the full amended court filing dated 27 February, which landed in our inbox overnight and details exactly what its beef is with Cupertino.

It specifically alleges fraud by intentional misrepresentation, fraud by concealment, fraudulent inducement and unfair competition.

I rather doubt that they're going to have any luck with any of those charges but then who knows how a California court will rule these days? The actions that Proview are accusing Apple and the shell company of don't seem to be illegal in any manner. For in a business agreement not doing what you promised to do is illegal, yes, but pulling the wool over someone's eyes about what you intend to do isn't.

Still, something of a popcorn moment. For it really does seem that Apple failed to do its due diligence and make sure that it was buying the China rights to the iPad brand. Yes, I know there was that case in Hong Kong which Apple won but that's not the same as Mainland China. One Country, Two Systems, you see? They are different legal systems and a ruling in one is not a ruling in the other. Indeed, a Hong Kong court has no jurisdiction at all in China itself.

In a sense, it's a little like claiming that a state court ruling in California means you've won in Oregon. Which isn't true, is it?