Two Chinese B2C e-commerce sites, Amazon China and Suning.com have removed the iPad from sale “in an apparent move to avoid implication in the Apple versus Proview legal battle over the use of the iPad name in mainland China, reports ” Asia Tech News (http://macte.ch/n11Vv).
A search for “iPad,” “iPad 2” or “any relevant permutation” yields results only for accessories for (or rivals of) Apples tablet on both those sites. However, the removal doesn’t seem to be the result of a request from Proview Technology, which is laying claim to the iPad trademark and which has been seeking to halt both imports and exports of the device in China, notes “MacRumors” (http://www.macrumors.com).
China’s Proview Technology, a tech firm claiming to own the iPad trademark, plans to seek a ban on shipments of the Apple tablet in and out of China. The company triumphed over Apple in a lawsuit in southern China late last year and is looking to enforce the court ruling. Proview is petitioning Chinese customs to stop shipments of iPads, notes “Reuters.”
Apple has accused Shenzhen Proview of infringing its iPad trademark and filed a lawsuit to that affect last year. However, in December 2011, the Intermediate People’s Court in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen rejected Apple’s complaint against Proview Technology (Shenzhen). The court said Proview lawfully registered the iPad trademark as long ago as 2000 for products in a number of countries, including China.
In December 2011 the Intermediate People’s Court in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen rejected Apple’s complaint against Proview Technology (Shenzhen). The court said Proview lawfully registered the iPad trademark as long ago as 2000 for products in a number of countries, including China.
However, Proview Technology admits that customs authorities had told it that the sheer size of the market and the popularity of iPads would make it difficult to impose a ban. “The customs have told us that it will be difficult to implement a ban because many Chinese consumers love Apple products. The sheer size of the market is very big,” Yang Long-san, chief of Proview Technology, tells “Reuters” (http://macte.ch/U867l).