Apple could be in for a bit of a hit. In a new lawsuit with a Hong Kong based company, they claim the company didn’t have the rights to use the iPad name on their popular line of tablets in China and are suing for a whopping $1.6 Billion.
Of course, this wouldn’t be too much of a hit to their upwards of $100 Billion in the bank, but that’s still not a good thing to have happen. The company claims that the trademark “iPad” was bought from them for $55,000. The problem however is that buying the trademark did not give Apple the rights to sell the iPad in China which is going to be a big seller over the next many years.
“Proview Technology (Shenzhen) said this week that it filed for a temporary restraining order in a Shanghai court to stop the Cupertino, Calif., maker of hot-selling electronics from using the iPad name in mainland China. “We have to admit that Apple’s iPad is a great product, and Apple creates great value out of that,” said Yang Rongshan, chairman of the Proview arm in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, in an interview. “But this is not the reason to support their irregular practice here.”
“We’ve been negotiating with Apple,” Mr. Yang said. “I can’t tell you what the status is right now since this is a commercial secret, but so far their attitude is still quite ambiguous.”
If there’s truth to Proview Technology’s claims, it could mean big money for them.
Do you think there’s truth to their claims and that Apple owes them money?
