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A general view of an ‘Apple Store’ in Kunming, which was found not to be an Apple Store at all. Apple itself now faces a hefty bill for unauthorised use of the 'iPad' name in China. ZPRESS/ChinaFotoPress

Apple may be forced to rename iPad in China after court ruling

A Chinese court says another company registered the ‘iPad’ name in 2000 – meaning Apple may be forced to rename the unit there.

APPLE MAY BE forced to rename its popular iPad tablet for sales in China, after a court there rejected a lawsuit taken by the manufacturer against another company for trademark infringement.

Apple had taken legal action at a court in Shenzhen, claiming that a local company Proview Technology was infringing its ‘iPad’ trademark.

The court rejected Apple’s claim, however – instead ruling that Proview was in fact the owner of the trademark, having registered it over a decade ago.

The court found that Proview’s sister company in Taiwan had registered the trademark in 2000, with the Shenzhen branch registering it on the Chinese mainland in 2001.

While Apple had paid Proview Taipei for the right to use the iPad name in 2009, it had not sought a similar deal with its Shenzhen sister company to use the trademark on the mainland.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua said Apple had paid around $54,000 for the Taiwan usage of the name – but may now be asked to shell out $1.6 billion in retrospective compensation for using it in mainland China.

While such a bill would not necessarily make much of a dent in Apple’s finances – the company is famously cash-rich, and has difficulty managing its enormous cash reserves – it would be a major boost to Proview Shenzhen.

That company, Xinhua said, is on the brink of bankruptcy as a result of debts incurred in the global financial crisis.

A representative from the company’s examiner said Apple’s “copy infringement is very clear”.

“The laws are still there, and they sell their products in defiance of laws. The more products they sell, the more they need to compensate.”

Gallery: Here’s the Apple store selling iPhones and iPads that’s actually a fake >

Read: Remember that fake Apple store? China’s found 22 more – in ONE city >

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    Mute Craig Hickey
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    May 20th 2015, 5:12 PM

    Best €9.99 I spend!

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    Mute Byyys
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    May 20th 2015, 5:18 PM

    There is a way of getting unlimited skips on songs & no advertising for free… Only down side is it dosent allow you create playlists or download songs offline – tha’ts what you are paying for i suppose!

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    Mute Gary O'neill
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    May 20th 2015, 5:20 PM

    Apple iTunes is a way more efficient way of listening to music unless your an android peasant

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    Mute John Lawless
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    May 20th 2015, 5:20 PM

    €12.99 for new subscribers. :(

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    Mute Malachi
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    May 20th 2015, 5:24 PM

    @Byyyys

    How do you do that?

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    Mute Byyys
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    May 20th 2015, 5:31 PM

    @Malachi I can’t say much on here. Google modified Spotify apk. download and install the modified version (at your own risk) and away you go….

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    Mute richard fennessy
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    May 20th 2015, 5:38 PM

    gary the 1990s r looking for u

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    Mute Paul Collins
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    May 20th 2015, 5:47 PM

    €5.99 for me as a Vodafone customer. It’s some service all the same… And I think the way Byyys is referring to will only work on desktop and not mobile…

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    Mute Byyys
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    May 20th 2015, 5:55 PM

    Obviously it’s different for iPhone users…for android use this Apk http://bit.ly/1K1tRO7

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    Mute Jason
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    May 20th 2015, 5:57 PM

    Have it with Vodafone too, got it free for a year and now it’s €4.99. Great for the commute!

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    Mute The Dude
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    May 20th 2015, 6:30 PM

    ….and very little of that going to independent artists.

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    Mute DeeJay
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    May 20th 2015, 5:48 PM

    Love the way the report says “only 15 million pay for it” like that’s a bad thing!

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    Mute Mark Byrne
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    May 20th 2015, 8:43 PM

    Why pay for streaming?

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    Mute Resel
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    May 21st 2015, 3:55 AM

    Too expensive given that netflix is €7

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    Mute Pete Gilmartin
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    May 21st 2015, 12:08 AM

    Podcast services would be fantastic. I listen to a lot if podcasts as it fits into my preferred way of consuming content. Unfortunately they are spread over different services like soundcloud, spreaker and libsyn. Unifying them under one service would be very beneficial. I already avail of Spotify premium so this is great news.

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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
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    May 20th 2015, 6:48 PM

    Great. Another company trying to make money out of my podcast.

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    Mute The whistler
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    May 20th 2015, 9:28 PM

    These are just the features that I’ve never wanted on spotify, I mustn’t belong to the ” new generation of users”

    Still better than googles “no no.. play this” service

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