on February 24th, the case of Apple Inc. and iPadL (iPadApplication Development Limited) suing Shenzhen Proview iPad was heard in Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court. On that day, the fifteenth court of Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court was packed.
this dispute stems from a power of attorney. On December 23, 29, Proview Electronics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Taiwan Province Proview") authorized Mr. Mai, the company's legal adviser, to sign an agreement to transfer eight i-Pad trademarks to IPADL. According to the power of attorney obtained by this newspaper, the authorized party is Proview Electronics Co., Ltd., with the seal of Proview Electronics Co., Ltd. and the person in charge, Yang Rongshan.
IPADL transferred all its iPad trademarks to Apple in 21.
the dispute between the two parties lies in whether Taiwan Province Proview, the licensor, has the right to handle the trademark of iPad in mainland China on behalf of Shenzhen Proview. According to the evidence submitted by Apple to Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, two months before signing the power of attorney, the representative of IPADL signed by JonathanHargreaves and the representative of Taiwan Province Proview Legal Department signed by HuiYuan started negotiations by email to discuss whether Taiwan Province Proview could represent Shenzhen Proview. In the email, HuiYuan informed I-PADL that Mr. Mai was the signing representative of Taiwan Province Proview and the agreement was signed in Taiwan Province.
according to public information, Taiwan Province Proview and Shenzhen Proview are both subsidiaries of Proview International (334.hk), but there is no cross-relationship between their shares. Xie Xianghui, another attorney of Shenzhen Proview, said that Taiwan Province Proview has no right to represent this case because it has no ownership of the iPad trademark in the Mainland. According to the company law of the Mainland, although Taiwan Province Proview and Shenzhen Proview are both subsidiaries of Proview International, Proview Group still has no right to dispose of the assets of Shenzhen Proview, not to mention that the legal person of Shenzhen Proview is not Yang Rongshan.
however, Shenzhen proview believes that article 11 of the agreement signed between Taiwan Province proview and I-PADL company on December 23rd, 29 clearly stipulates that all correspondence and mails have been replaced by a written formal agreement, which is not used as any basis.
"This is actually a ridiculous farce. After Apple found out that the owner of the mainland trademark of iPad did not belong to Taiwan Province Proview but Shenzhen Proview, it became anxious and took the lead." Xiao Caiyuan said.
In fact, two dramatic factors make the case even more confusing.
in the lawsuit filed by apple in the hong kong court, the materials submitted show that IPADL company was actually a company with special purpose established under the operation of apple's lawyers, aiming at acquiring the trademark right of i-Pad in Proview's hands.
on April 3, 21, iPad products began to be sold to the public in the United States. On April 7, 21, IPADL transferred all its iPad trademarks to Apple for 1 pounds.
The OEM of a large enterprise said that Apple negotiated with Proview for the iPad trademark in the name of IPADL, in order to prevent the other party from asking exorbitant prices, and the registered company abbreviated as IPADL could explain the reasons for the acquired trademark, but after the dispute, Apple's lawyer's negligence would make Apple pay the price.
Xiao Caiyuan believes that Shenzhen Proview was originally a dispute with I-PADL, so Apple intervened strongly, and the negligence of IPADL was obvious. According to relevant regulations, Apple's agent was not established at all.
more dramatically, the owner indicated by the authorized representative mailbox of IPADL company-onathanhargreaves may not exist at all. Xiao Caiyuan said that he learned from the materials submitted by Apple to the Hong Kong High Court that there was no such natural person. It can be concluded that the plaintiff concealed this fact from the notary public when applying for notarization.
trademark door dilemma
Before the trademark door came to fruition, since September 21, Apple has sent the iPad to cafes and fashionistas of all sizes.
On March 22nd, 21, the trademark of iPad was sealed up by eight creditor banks in Shenzhen Proview. Apple filed a complaint with Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, claiming that IPADL transferred the iPad trademark to Apple on April 7, 21.
"It's a farce for Apple and IPADL to sign an agreement on the transfer of trademarks that have been sealed up according to law. Moreover, the agreement was signed after knowing that IPADL could not transfer our iPad trademark, which obviously did not have any effect and was malicious. " Xiao Caiyuan said.
After Apple made the disputed trademark of iPad in the Mainland a fait accompli. The reality is that Shenzhen Proview is unable to fight back.
according to relevant regulations, if Shenzhen Proview wants to sue Apple, it needs huge property guarantee. Shenzhen Proview, once one of the top 1 foreign trade exporters in China, is now almost bankrupt. The question that Apple needs to face is, if it loses the case, what about its iPad trademark?
The above-mentioned agent said that Apple will definitely not allow the loss of this trademark, and if it loses the case, it can only settle it, which is why Shenzhen Proview has to fight this lawsuit to the end when it is almost bankrupt.
Lawyer Xie said that the losses caused by Apple to Shenzhen Proview are incalculable. According to Chinese laws, if the loss of the injured party cannot be calculated, the profit of the profit party can be used as the calculation standard. Regarding this statement, Huang Yiding, the media director of Hejun Entrepreneurship, believes that because Apple has many processing foundries in the Mainland, it is produced in the Mainland and sold overseas, and this part of the loss needs to be calculated by the customs, so it is very complicated. It is understood that Hejun Venture is a company entrusted by Proview Electronics to handle this trademark dispute case.
This newspaper has contacted the staff of Apple China for many times, but their phone calls have not been answered, and the person in charge of Apple's public relations company said that it has been replaced.
It is worth noting that before Apple's iPhone entered the mainland market, it also entered China first and then settled the transfer.
according to the information disclosed in Hanwang's prospectus, on July 18th, 29, Hanwang and Apple signed an iPhone trademark settlement and transfer agreement of US$ 3.65 million. Prior to this, the iPhone has been on sale in the Mainland.