Apple, Proview spat goes on

Apple Inc said on Tuesday that Proview Technology Shenzhen Co, which is involved in an iPad trademarks dispute, has been misleading courts and public with the aim to get more money from Apple, but a lawyer representing Proview dismissed the iPad maker's accusation as nonsense.

"Proview is misleading Chinese courts and customers with claims that the iPad trademarks cannot be transferred, or that mistakes were made in handling the transaction.

"As a company that generates a lot of intellectual property we would never knowingly abuse someone else's trademarks," Apple said in a statement yesterday.

"Proview didn't want to pay its debts in 2009 when it sold the iPad trademarks, and because they still owe a lot of people a lot of money, they are now unfairly trying to get more from Apple for a trademark we already paid for," the statement said.

Xie Xianghui, a lawyer representing Proview at Grandall Law Firm, refuted Apple's latest statement yesterday.

"It is Apple that continues to mislead the courts, the public and the media. Till now Apple has not gathered sound evidence to prove it obtained the iPad trademarks from Proview Shenzhen in a legal way," Xie told the Global Times.

Apple claimed that the management of Proview Shenzhen were aware of the deal reached in 2009 and insisted on selling the trademarks through Proview Taiwan.

"At that time Apple didn't know that the intention of Proview was to avoid paying the transaction revenues to Proview's creditors in the mainland," the Apple statement said. The deal included worldwide rights to the iPad name — in total 10 iPad trademarks — for 35,000 pounds ($54,740), according to documents disclosed previously.

Xie questioned Apple's allegations given the small amount involved. "It does not make sense for Proview Shenzhen to ask Apple to deal with Proview Taiwan to avoid paying this small amount of money to the creditors, because Proview Shenzhen owed creditors more than 1 billion yuan, far higher than the transaction value of the trademarks," he said.

"Proview won't gain more money from winning the lawsuit, and the compensation from Apple will be used for paying back Proview's creditors," Xie said.

Both sides are still waiting for a final ruling from the Higher People's Court of Guangdong Province.

"Apple has adopted an aggressive stance recently in the lawsuit, including publishing statements and hiring a batch of lawyers, a move seen as an effort to influence public opinion on the case," Yu Guofu, a lawyer specializing in intellectual property rights at Beijing Shengfeng Law firm, told the Global Times.

"It is possible for the two sides to mislead the public; however, they can't mislead the courts," Yu said.