Shanghai Court Rejects Proview Request to Halt Apple IPad Sales

Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- A court in Shanghai rejected a request by the Shenzhen unit of Proview International Holdings Ltd. to halt sales of Apple Inc.’s iPad tablet in the city, the lawyer for the Chinese company said.

The Pudong District Court’s decision is “wrong” and Proview’s Shenzhen-based unit will appeal the ruling, Roger Xie, an attorney for the company, said in an interview yesterday. Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu, based in Beijing, said she didn’t immediately have information available on the issue.

Proview’s Shenzhen unit had asked the Shanghai court on Feb. 22 to stop sales of the iPad in the city because it infringes on a trademark the company received in 2001. The Shanghai court suspended the case to allow another court time to deliver a ruling on who owns the trademark.

“I don’t agree with their reason,” Xie said of yesterday’s ruling in Shanghai. “They should protect the interest of the trademark holder in compliance with China law. We will appeal.”

Apple says it purchased Proview’s iPad trademark in China in 2009 and sued Proview over the rights in 2010 in the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court.

The Shenzhen court rejected Apple’s claim in November and said its contract with Proview’s Taipei-based unit failed to prove the transfer was authorized by the owner in Shenzhen. Apple appealed the loss and a hearing of that case is scheduled for Feb. 29 before the Higher People’s Court of Guangdong.

--Edmond Lococo. Editors: Linus Chua, Joshua Fellman

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Edmond Lococo in Beijing at elococo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Liu at jliu42@bloomberg.net

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