Thursday 16 February 2012

Paperwork from Chinese iPad trademark sale emerges

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Does the e-mail exchange between Apple and Proview Technology record the sale of the iPad trademark to Apple?
The correspondence between Apple and Proview Technology chronicling what looks very much like the successful sale of the iPad trademark between the two companies has made its way into the wild.
Fifteen pages that include e-mails between Proview and IP Application Development Limited (the U.K.-based firm that bought the name off Proview), were posted this afternoon by All Things D.

A signed and notarized form of trademark assignment for the iPad.
A signed and notarized form of trademark assignment for the iPad.
The files are in conjunction with a Hong Kong court decision from July of last year, wherein the judge sided with Apple, saying the company continued to own the rights to the iPad trademark in the country.
In the pages there are e-mails and forms covering:

    • The agreement on a price, which was 35,000 British Pounds (about $57,900 at the time of the deal) • A signed form that details the transferring and assigning of the trademark, as well as a stipulation that the company wouldn't "bring opposition, cancellation, rectification and/or any other proceedings against the Trade Marks," based on prior rights. • A note that the trademark belongs to "a Taiwan company" and not one based in Shenzhen • Two notarized forms containing signatures inking the deal
Apple took aim at Proview a year after making this deal for infringing its trademark of the iPad name. Proview countered by saying it registered for the trademark in several countries with filings dating back to 2000, and that when Apple acquired the name from United Kingdom-based IP Application Development, Proview never actually signed off on the deal, since it was made by one of the company's subsidiaries.
Apple's original claims against Proview were rejected by the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court in November. Last month Apple filed an appeal with the Higher People's Court of Guangdong Province, seeking once again to have its case heard. Proview responded by filing a temporary restraining order on Apple in an attempt to keep it from using the iPad name. It also began asking local authorities, in what Reuters reported was 20 cities, to seize iPad stock from third-party retailers.

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