As Apple, Inc. and Shenzhen-based Proview International Holdings Ltd. battle
over the iPad trademark in China, the lawyering involved in the 2009 trademark deal between the two companies has also become a hotly debated point of contention.
Proview’s lawyers have been making the case recently, both in public and in Chinese courts, that Apple’s lawyers failed to perform adequate due diligence before the company paid $55,000 for the iPad trademarks held by Proview’s Taiwan subsidiary. Though Apple claims the trademarks that it purchased include rights in China, Proview says they do not. So far, a court in Shenzhen has agreed with Proview, though Apple is appealing that decision in a higher court in Guangzhou.
