Apple Wins iPad Round in Shanghai: New Justice? 苹果在iPad商标侵权案中扳回一局

By newsdoug on February 24, 2012

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has finally won a round in its ongoing legal dispute over use of the iPad name in China, reflecting both a potential turning point in its ongoing spat with a Taiwan-linked company called Proview and also suggesting that justice may finally be coming in this convoluted case that is testing China’s fledgling court system. Of course, some might say the win this week in a Shanghai courtroom may also reflect the entry of politics into this case that has captured global headlines, as government officials finally take steps to help Apple, which is clearly much more important to China’s economy than the financially struggling Proview. But from my viewpoint, this latest development is more about making sure that true justice happens, and that companies realize that they can’t use China’s inexperienced legal system to play the kinds of games that occur elsewhere throughout the its business world. Let’s take a look at the actual new development, which has seen a Shanghai court rule that Apple can continue to sell its iPads in the city, one of China’s wealthiest and a much more important market than any of the smaller cities where iPads have been pulled from store shelves after a Shenzhen court ruled that Proview still owns the iPad trademark. (English article; Chinese article) The Shanghai ruling, or really its decision not to rule in the matter yet, is actually just temporary pending a final ruling in the Shenzhen case over who actually owns the iPad name. But it does seem to offer a hint that maybe higher officials in the court system are finally getting involved in this high-profile case that has the potential to seriously damage the reputation of China’s legal system if handled improperly. My understanding of the case if far from complete as I only know what I read in other media reports. But based on what I’ve seen, it appears that the China-based Proview was bound by a broader deal struck by its Taiwan affiliate, also named Proview, to sell the rights to the iPad name to Apple a few years ago in eight or nine global markets. For some reason, perhaps technical or perhaps due to incompetence, the trademark transfer was never completed in China. But rather than honor the agreement and fix the problem, the China-based Proview, which is struggling financially, is now trying to take advantage of the situation to blackmail Apple into paying a massive fee for rights to a name it already sold to Apple several years ago. Hopefully this latest Shanghai court decision will make Proview see that the Chinese court system isn’t a toy it can use for this kind of blackmailing game, and will prompt it to find a reasonable solution with Apple. If it doesn’t, it could ultimately find the tide turn against it in China’s courts and end up with nothing.

Bottom line: A court development in Apple’s favor in Shanghai shows that high-ranking Chinese legal officials are finally getting involved in the trademark case, pushing it towards a more just settlement.

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