The new iPad hasn’t received a warm welcome it seems as Proview, the monitor biz on the verge of bankruptcy has demanded to ban the latest iPad in China as it claims to own the iPad trademark.
The issue of trademark infringement has been going on for a while now between the two companies and recently Apple took the Chinese company to the court. The U.S. tech giant contends the company bought the iPad trademark from Proview in late 2009, and that Proview has not honored its agreement.
In an open letter on Wednesday to Chinese resellers and suppliers, Proview wrote,
Now we solemnly inform vendors and dealers (including e-distributorships) Apple iPads (including the iPad 3) in China that they should immediately stop all infringing activities such as warehousing, transportation, mailing, concealing, etc. Any above activities shall be deemed as a deliberate infringement and we will, without prior notice, take the most severe measures possible to hold the infringers responsible for any legal liability, including but not limited to administrative, civil and criminal liabilities. You are hereby informed!
But there is a new twist to the story as the creditors of the babkrupt Chinese company said the iPad trademark is actually in the hands of eight banks, which took control of Proview’s assets in March 2009 after the company suffered financial losses. The state-owned Bank of China which is one of the banks, recently stated that Proview owes $180 million to them and asked Apple to pay $400 million, in order to buy the trademark for the iPad.
The date of the new iPad sales were not announced for China but will go on sale in Hong Kong at the same time as the US and UK on 16 March and in equally nearby Macau the following week. Apple stated, “Whilst we have not announced a date yet for China, this is our fastest global roll out ever for iPad and we’re working hard to get it into as many customers hands as possible”. We will keep you updated on the matter as we know more.
