A Chinese court has sided with Apple in the ongoing patent dispute over the iPad trademark in that country, with Apple stating that they purchased the rights several years ago, and that Proview refuses to honor the agreement.
As Apple stated to AllThingsD:
We bought Proview’s worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago. Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple, and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter.
Judge Hon Poon suggested that Proview’s behavior suggets little more than financial desperation, and they indeed breached their agreement with Apple over the trademark:
The conduct of all the defendants demonstrate that they have combined together with the common intention of injuring Apple and IP Application [Apple’s agent in the purchase] by acting in breach of the agreement. Proview Holdings, Proview Electronics and Proview Shenzhen, all clearly under [Proview CEO Yang Rongshan’s] control, have refused to take any steps to ensure compliance with the agreement so that the China Trademarks are properly assigned or transferred to [Apple]. Instead, they attempt to exploit the situation as a business opportunity for the Proview Group by seeking an amount of US $10 million from Apple.
Poon also stated that it was “plain that the defendants had the necessary intent yo injure Apple.. and their conduct will cause damage to them.” The full decision can be found over at AllThingsD.