«It is immoral, but legally permissible. This is how one of those responsible for enforcing the intellectual property law in China described the attitude of companies that try to register different names of Apple products in the Asian giant. In statements to the official newspaper ChineseDaily, This woman, who did not want to identify herself, assured that the technology giant "has not known how to avoid risks well to protect itself."
He meant that, according to the official website of the Chinese patent office, Tim Cook's company It has only registered the name iPhone in 14 of the 45 existing categories in the country, and the iPad in nine. That has allowed up to 39 Chinese companies or individuals to try to get hold of the famous brand to increase sales of their products. And there are manufacturers of all kinds. A fur company in the coastal city of Wenzhou, for example, tried to register the iPhone twice - 2007 and 2010 - to use as a trademark for its boots. Another company in the southern province of Guangdong has tried its hand at the iPad, to make the name shine on its floor covering materials. At the moment, none have succeeded, but a firm resolution on their requests is still missing.
The one that is winning the game in the iPad war is Proview Technologies. The bankrupt Taiwanese company that has the almighty Cupertino firm in check -because it did register the name first and in the same product category-, added a new goal yesterday. According to the company's representative, another small-town court, in this case Huizhou, not only agreed with them, but went a bit further by officially calling for the sale of the iPad to be stopped throughout China.
Until then, the authorities in some cities had decided to withdraw the tablets as a precautionary measure pending the ruling of the Guangdong Supreme Court. But now, different courts are deciding whether the matter is more serious. However, its judgments apply only in its jurisdiction, not at the national level. Tomorrow one of the most important cities will be pronounced, Shanghai, in which Apple does have official stores. If the economic capital of China orders the withdrawal of the iPad, the slap will be more than economic: it will seriously damage the reputation of the multinational.
Meanwhile, finding a tablet with the bitten apple logo is getting harder and harder. EL PAÍS has been able to verify that some of the establishments that sell Apple products have removed the tablets from the shop windows "just in case", but they continue to do business with them in the back room. In the city of Kunming, the same city where almost perfect copies of the Apple Store were found, some prefer to sell the iPad through the false door.
"There is no official communication that forces us to remove them, but we are aware that it can arrive and we do not want them to confiscate the devices unexpectedly," explains the owner of one of the premises. Of course, with this measure, she also gets another beneficial effect for her. "They want to sell the most expensive iPads," complains a customer who leaves the store in anger. "They intend to charge me 500 yuan (60 euros) more than what they mark." The store fights back. "It's the law of supply and demand. If there is less in the market, they will be more expensive ”.
These secondary effects of the litigation have made the American multinational consider the possibility of suing Proview for defamation. Apple insists that it bought all the rights to the exploitation of the iPad in China, and that a court in Hong Kong already agreed with it last year. Not surprisingly, the judge assured on that occasion that "Proview had acted with the clear intention of damaging Apple." But the former British colony works its own way, governed by its own rules and disconnected from the communist regime. And what worries is the mainland China.
However, it is possible that Apple will save some effect there. The law firm handling the case yesterday sent a letter, of which the newspaper Financial Times received a copy, in which he assures that the director of Proview in Shenzhen, Yang Long-san, was fully aware of the transaction of the copyright which had been carried out with the parent company, in Taiwan, and accuses it of having continued to make, despite this, "false and confusing statements" that are undermining the company's reputation. It seems that there are documents that would confirm this, such as the emails leaked on the Internet a few days ago. But Proview knows that only a generous injection of capital from Apple can revive the company. Although different analysts mentioned by the official Chinese press wonder if it is not too late for that.
Source: the country
