Apple Appeals To Keep iPad Trademark In China

It's reported that Apple is appealing against a decision by a court in China that it doesn't have the right to the iPad trademark in the country.

The court decided in December, 2011, that the name "iPad" belongs to a small Chinese monitor manufacturer, Proview, which stands to make a shed-load of money if the decision is upheld.

According to the IDG news service, Proview says Apple lodged the appeal earlier this month.

Apple had originally filed a lawsuit against Proview to assert its control of the trademark. But in December, the Shenzhen Municipal Intermediate People's Court announced it had rejected Apple's claim.

In its lawsuit, Apple claimed that a Proview subsidiary in Taiwan had sold the iPad trademark rights to a U.K.-based company called "IP Applications." The trademark rights were then sold to Apple in 2010.

The Shenzhen court, however, ruled that the transfer of trademark rights were only made through Proview's Taiwan subsidiary. Proview's Shenzhen-based company, did not attend trademark negotiations, and did not formally transfer any trademark rights, according to the court.

According to a lawyer for Proview, Apple's appeal asks for the iPad trademark to be formally transferred to the Cupertino company.

Proview is taking seperate legal action to try to stop Apple selling tablets under the iPad name in China.

(Via: ComputerWorld)