China court rejects Apple lawsuit over iPad name

A girl tries out an iPad at an Apple
store in Beijing on Oct. 6, 2011. Published: 12/8/2011 9:38:15 AM BEIJING (AP) – A court in southern
China has rejected an Apple claim
that a Hong Kong-headquartered
tech company has violated its iPad
trademark, the latest development
in a case that could affect the tech giant's financial prospects in a huge
emerging market.

Apple's Beijing-based
spokeswoman Carolyn Wu declined
to comment Thursday on the
decision by the Municipal
Intermediate People's Court in the
southern city of Shenzhen.

The court said on its website that it
dismissed a lawsuit Monday by
Apple (AAPL) against Shenzhen Proview Technology over the
ownership of the iPad trademark.
The company is a subsidiary of LCD
screen maker Proview International
Holdings (PVIHF), headquartered in Hong Kong.

The court ruled that the Shenzhen
company is not bound by a 2009
agreement that its Taiwanese
affiliate, Proview Taipei, made with
Apple to transfer the trademarks to
the Cupertino, Calif.-based company for $54,700. Proview in Taiwan had registered
the trademark in various countries
as early as 2000, while Proview in
Shenzhen registered the trademark
in China in 2001.

According to the Shenzhen court
decision, Apple says its trademark
transfer agreement with Proview's
Taiwanese company should also
apply to the Shenzhen company, but
the court rejected that, saying that the Shenzhen company was not
involved in those negotiations.

Proview Shenzhen has been mired in financial problems and will seek to claim $1.6 billion in compensation
from Apple for copyright
infringement following the court
ruling, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The U.S. company has the right to appeal the verdict.(usatoday.com)