Court delays Apple Proview ruling The never-ending battle over rights to the IPAD trademark is set to drag on even longer after news emerged that a Chinese court will delay its ruling while settlement talks between Apple and Proview continue. The Higher People’s Court of Guangdong in southern China will not make a decision on Apple’s appeal against a previous …
What can you possibly be suggesting, AC? That settlement talks take place AFTER the final outcome?
After the trial a judge or jury decide that Apple should pay me a million dollars (that's the final outcome), according to your lights, that's when we enter into settlement talks and I let Apple chew me down to a week-end in Vegas and a few free buffets.
Settlement talks after the final outcome is like trying to get auto insurance after a car crash. Or putting on a condom after you put the bun in the oven.
So Apple brought the trademark from Proview Taiwan, Proview claim Proview Taiwan didn't have the right to sell the trademark.
So doesn't Apple have some legal comeback with Proview Taiwan? Presumably the sales contract said something like Proview Taiwan confirm they have the exclusive rights to the trademark? and cover liability if this turns out not to be true?
If this is the case cant they sue Proview Taiwan to cover their costs in this case (to be picked up by their parent Proview)
I don't particularly like Apple as a company but they seem to be getting a bit of a shafting here
Remember apple lied about the purpose of buying the trademark - they should have paid far more than they did given they've ended up in numbers size being the largest vendor in the tablet market as a result. With $100bn in the bank they should have been more careful. I have an iPhone and Macbook Pro, and love them muchly, but no problem saying what they did came to bite them in the backside.
TBH I don't see anything wrong with that, I think when it comes to negotiation its only natural to hold your cards close to your chest and try to not give anything away - who ever is (or appears to be) most willing to walk away gets the best deal.
It's why we have middlemen and brokers etc (well one of the reasons anyway).
A (kinda stretched) analogy:
If I pay someone to wash my car for £10 and they later find out I'm a millionaire, they don't get pissed that they didn't charge me £200.
<< Pirate, cos someone is clearly trying to fleece someone else, just not sure who is the victim!
Quote: If I pay someone to wash my car for £10 and they later find out I'm a millionaire, they don't get pissed that they didn't charge me £200.
Fail @ analogy. A better analogy would be.. "Someone offers to wash my car windows at £1 per window, which I accept. After they finish, I produce a document clearly defining that all the glass in my car (minus the wind-shield) are actually 'transparent observation panels' and give them the £1 I owe."
So you think when the operating system MS licensed and turned into DOS this is exactly the same and MS should have paid a lot more for it considering it was the basis of their Dos and 9X Operating Systems (As well as IBM PC Dos OS/2 etc...)?
Apple may not have thought it was going to be as popular as it was (I certainly wasn't expecting Apple to survive and yet alone having a super cash pile)
Exactly right. I guess some people hate Apple so much they think the only reason the product was successful was because it was called the iPad. If it was called the iSlate or iTab, I believe it would have been just as successful.
I remember when it came out a lot of people hated the name, and made jokes comparing to Stayfree maxipads. Now some people think it is so valuable that Apple totally screwed this poor Chinese company out of billions. It is worth billions because of Apple. It was worth essentially nothing to the Chinese company since they had already stopped selling products under that name, they were happy to get the $35K, but now think they can take advantage of the rather corrupt state of the Chinese judicial system to get more.
"IPAD was a worthless trademark for a pointless and failed product."
If iPad is/was a worthless trademark, then why doesn't Apple just walk away from it in China? Because now it isn't so worthless. Any court in the world will declare null and void a contract entered into by two parties misrepresenting themselves. Not just a Chinese one.
If you want to learn how valuable a worthless asset can be, watch "It's A Gift" with W.C. Fields. You make him look like a Nobel Laureate.
The gangsta courts today are the English one who are extraditing Assange back to Sweden for questioning
about the condomization of his willy and the Israeli one who is permitting the government to build camps for 25,000 African immigrants.
Gangsta governments don't steal trademarks, they drop napalm on women and children
Phooey.
No doubt Apple made the trademark very, very valuable. But that is not the point, AC.
Apple owns the trademark all over the world, but not in China. Preview owns it there. That's why they had their dummy corporation buy the trademark from Proview.
Any value the trademark has or doesn't have is irrelevant to this case. Only the validity of the contract for sale.
Sorry. :o)
Quote: I don't particularly like Apple as a company but they seem to be getting a bit of a shafting here
Personally, I hope they get shafted harder. The way they have bulldozed their way through everyone with litigation recently... fuck-em, they can reap the benefits of the system they use so whole-heartedly. Which other company in history has the absolute cheek to claim copyright on "slide to unlock" screens when they have been out for the last 15 years anyway?
Fuck em to hell with a corporate bastardised judicial system, and fuck anyone defending them and their corrupt business ethics!
Read my posts around the Ides of March. Everyone, including the last Empress and Apple, want a settlement. But Apple and Proview are way far apart. The court doesn't want to shove a billion dollar settlement down Apple 's throat. But will if they have to.
As long as the issue is undecided Apple can't sell iPads in China.
Apple lied about who the real buyer was. Preview lied about who owned the copyright. There is no contract of sale.
Remember the end of "Chinatown"? The guy says to Jack Nicholson, "Forget it, Jake, this is Chinatown."
Well, forget it, Formerly Matt, this is China.
No, Apple did NOT buy the trademark from Proview. A dummy corporation set up by Apple bought the trademark from Proview for $55,000 and then sold it to Apple for 10 pounds.
There is a slight difference. Only the dummy corporation can sue Proview Taiwan and they're out of business.
Apple want to settle. As soon as it and Proview can agree on a dollar amount.
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