iPad name dispute gets fiery

In a half-day hearing at the Pudong District People's Court Wednesday, lawyers from both firms forcefully presented their cases, prompting the chief judge to admonish the two sides several times.

Proview Technology – a Chinese computer monitor manufacturer – claimed it had never sold the trademark "IPAD" or Internet Personal Access Device, it had registered as early as 2000.

"We have provided ample evidence that the Apple company violates the trademark," Proview lawyer Xie Xianghui told reporters after the hearing.

However, Apple accused Proview of reneging on an agreement to transfer the trademark. The company claimed it had bought the worldwide rights to the iPad name in ten different countries, including China, several years ago.

Apple attorney Qu Miao argued that stopping iPad sales in China was "not in the interest of the public" as production of the tablet computer contributes to Chinese "tax revenues and manufacturing jobs."

"They have no market, no sales, no customers. They have nothing," Qu Miao said of Proview.

Contract under review

Proview Technology Shenzhen is a wholly owned subsidiary of Proview International Holdings based in Taiwan.

The Taiwan holding reportedly sold the international rights to the trademark to a British firm in 2009. This company allegedly in turn resold the trademark to Apple, which launched the iPad in 2010.

Ma Dongxiao, another lawyer representing Proview Technology, said the Shenzhen firm was a "different company," adding that the Proview International Holdings had "no right to sell the trademark."

"The court case will continue until we have a negotiated solution," Ma told the dpa news agency – an indication that Proview was seeking compensation.

Meanwhile, Chinese courts have ordered electronics chain stores to stop selling Apple iPads until the dispute has been resolved.

uh/nk (dpa, AP, AFP)