It's kind of a funny story to me because it's a little bit of karma coming back towards Apple. Though in this case I think Apple is in the right.

Proview registered the IPAD name in 2000 for an internet appliance that it was developing with Motorola and others. The thing never was finished. A few years later a company called "IP Application Development" wants to buy the IPAD name, because it's the initials of it's company and gave some sob story about how it was critical for their existence to get that name. So the Proview Taiwan branch sold the name to this company. Turned out IP Application Development was a cover for Apple.

Proview is now pissed. They sued Apple in Hong Kong claiming deception and malice and that the Taiwan branch wasn't authorized to sell the name. This seemed to result in a launch delay of the iPad 2 in China. The court just sided with Apple, so the iPad 2 may soon be available over there. But now Proview is suing Apple in the US. Wow, if this didn't work in your own country, what makes them think it'll work in Apple's home country?

Proview coincidentally sounds like it's on the verge of bankruptcy. So it appears to be a last ditch ploy to get some money from a very rich company to survive.

Not sure if Apple was intentionally trying to deceive Proview with the fake company name and get the IPAD name cheap. Apple is very secretive with new products and may have just been trying to keep the iPad name a secret as long as possible.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/23/shanghai-court-rejects-ipad-ban

They wanted the name so they bought it. Interesting, but I can't see Proview with much of a leg to stand on. Maybe... maybe if they had a product that made it to market... maybe.

 

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I actually think Apple will settle out of court eventually. The problem is that the Taiwan branch wasn't, it seems, legally able to sell the Chinese rights. Due to the restructuring of the parent company, the Chinese holdings were under the control of a large Chinese bank. So the Taiwan branch was unable to sell the Chinese rights which I think the courts will eventually decide. Apple certainly has the cash and this fly by night company is looking to get a nice payday to the tune of a billion or so.

 

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Too bad for Proview I say. Go fire the arse-wipe(s) that were involved in the transaction and move on. that kind of thing happens alot in business.

This all coming out with Apple making a statement that they have more money than they need to run the business successfully. Apple may be paying a nice dividend to it's shareholders.

 

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This is no different than when Disney was wanting to open disney world in flordia, and instead of buying land under their name they made a hand full of companies and bought it through them. This kept other land owners from jacking up the price knowing who was wanting the land.

 

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Seems perfectly fair to me... shrug.

 

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Proview is on the brink of failing. Shame on them for patent-trolling.