Proview Takes a Shot at Apple in California Court
Looks like Proview doesn’t need to find a law firm to sue Apple in the United States, as it said last week.
Not only does it already have one, but according to The Wall Street Journal it has already filed suit — on Feb. 17, the very day Li Su, chairman of Hejun Vanguard Group, a consulting company representing Proview’s creditors, said it was “selecting from three American law firms to sue Apple in the United States for $2 billion in compensation.”
Filed in the Superior Court of the State of California in Santa Clara County, the suit accuses Apple of fraud for using its IP Application Development subsidiary to purchase the iPad trademark from Proview. Apple acted “with oppression, fraud and/or malice,” Proview alleges.
Evidently, if Proview had known Apple’s plans for the trademarks, it would have held out for a lot more than the $55,000 it ultimately sold them for. But it didn’t. And now it’s trying to retroactively rejigger the deal through the courts, seeking to rescind the original agreement and prevent Apple from using the iPad name on its products.
Apple, for its part, insists it purchased Proview’s worldwide rights to the iPad trademark fair and square, and has quite a bit of evidence to back it up. Among the documents supporting Apple’s argument: A Dec. 23, 2009 contract signed by a Proview representative, stipulating that the company will transfer to Apple all rights, “powers and benefits belonging or accrued to the [iPad] trademarks, including the right to sue for past infringements and passing off.”
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