Battle over iPad name rights moves to US

Proview Electronics (0334.HKG), the Hong Kong display maker which claims the rights to the iPad name, is now suing Apple (AAPL.Nasdaq) in the US state of California, The Wall Street Journal reported. Apple says it purchased the rights to the iPad name from Proview in 2009 for GDP35,000 (US$55,000). But Proview says Apple’s pitch was misleading: The tech giant used a company set up by one of its law firms, called IP Application Development, which told Proview it wanted to buy the abbreviation of its name and would not compete with any of Proview’s products. Proview, now bankrupt, is battling Apple in Hong Kong and mainland China courts, aided by Proview creditors such as Bank of China (601988.SH, 3988.HKG) and China Minsheng Bank (600016.SH, 1988.HKG); moving the legal tussle to the US could mark an escalation. Apple suffered a blow recently when a court in Guangdong ruled against the firm, but another court in Shanghai rejected an efforts to stop iPad sales in the city until an appeal is heard next week.