Proview Electronics Co., Ltd., a small, failing Chinese tech firm is currently filing a lawsuit on Apple in Apple’s home turf in Santa Clara County, California. They’ve already been successful in banning sales of the iPad in a several Chinese cities such as Shijiazhuang and Hiuzhou and are currently filing lawsuits in many different Chinese jurisdictions, attempting to ban sales of iPads in China, and now the United States.
Their lawsuit hinges on a trademark dispute on the “iPad” trademark which Proview sold to Apple in 2009. Proview claims that Apple deliberately defrauded Proview during the 2009 deal when Apple created a “special purpose entity — IP Application Development Ltd, or IPAD” in order to purchase the trademark. Proview alleges that IPAD (AKA Apple) repeatedly assured Proview that IPAD would not be competing against Proview however, would not reveal what the trademark was for. Little did Proview know of course that IPAD was actually Apple. Therefore, Proview claims that the Apple made representations “”with the intent to defraud and induce the plaintiffs to enter into the agreement,””
So, what do you think? Did Apple defraud Proview? Is Proview desperately trying to save their company using Rambus’s tried and true techniques? Discuss!
Source: Reuters
