After several weeks in which Proview struggled to ban the sale of the iPad tablet in China, today a local court decided that sellers from a certain region of the country to stop trading iPad tablets. The decision was given last week by a court in the city of Huizhou in the Chinese province of Guangdong and is applicable immediately by the authorities but apparently only in that province. Based on it, Proview can compel the Chinese authorities to compel any merchant in Guangdong province to remove the iPad tablet from sale, and here we include the Apple company's stores, even the online ones.
SHANGHAI – A court in southern China has ruled that sales of iPads by local distributors violate the trademark rights of a local manufacturer engaged in a widening dispute with Apple Inc. The lawyer for the company suing Apple said Monday that the Intermediate People's Court in Huizhou, a city in southern China's Guangdong province, ruled late last week that distributors should stop selling iPads in China. Proview, a maker of computer monitors and other related products that is based in Guangdong, has asked regulators to seize iPads in China in a possible prelude to demanding a payout from Apple. A Shanghai court is due to hear a similar case on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, a court in Shanghai will judge a similar request by the Proview company, and then we might witness a ban for all of China or only for Shanghai and the nearby provinces.
UPDATE 16: 45: Apple is not doing much for now and a spokesperson reiterated the idea that Proview does not respect its commitments. Apple is trying to fight the ban, but it has the government on its side will try at the same time, a summons request accusing Proview of presenting defamatory information. Appe sent a letter to the CEO of Proview asking him to stop providing defamatory information to the press, otherwise he risks being sued, but I don't think that such actions will help in any way to solve the underlying problem.
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.
On Monday, Apple sent a letter to Chinese display vendor Proview, demanding its founder Yang Rongshan stop releasing what it said was false information to the media. Apple then warned it would sue for damages caused by "defamatory statements."
"It is inappropriate to release information contrary to the facts to the media, especially when such disclosures have the effect of wrongfully causing damage to Apple's reputation," said the letter, which was provided by a person familiar with the matter.
