ProView Electronics has upped the ante in its trademark war with Apple, updating the lawsuit it has against the company in the United States to allege that Apple is engaged in “fraud and unfair competition”.
If these allegations hold true, as ProView hopes, the company believes that its 2009 sale of the “IPAD” trademark will be ruled null and void because Apple would have “misrepresented itself” and its “intentions for the trademark”.
“Among the many allegations in the U.S complaint are fraud by intentional misrepresentation, fraud by concealment, fraudulent inducement, and unfair competition. The complaint provides evidence that the December 23, 2009 agreement that Proview Taiwan entered into was fraudulently induced by the concealment and suppression of material facts by Apple’s agents, and that, as a result, the 2009 agreement is void,” read a statement released by ProView.
According to the updated court filing in the United States this 2009 sale of the “IPAD” trademark to Apple, via a holding company IP Application Development Ltd., or IPAD, gave Apple the right to ProView’s trademarks for the European Union, China, South Korea, Mexico, Sinagpore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Cal Kenney, a spokesperson for ProView, said, “While some technology companies create special purpose vehicles in order to obtain trademarks, in this case the sole function of Apple’s special purpose vehicle was intentional misrepresentation, and an effort to fraudulently induce Proview Taiwan into a sale of the IPAD trademarks.”
In its case against Apple in China, ProView continues to insist that any previous deal it may have brokered with Apple did not include any rights to the “IPAD” trademark on the Chinese mainland. Last week a court in Shanghai ruled against ProView in its request that Apple be banned from selling the iPad within China.
“Proview wants compensation and disgorgement of Apple’s profits from the unfair competition,” Mr. Kenney concluded.
As Hardware Canucks has mentioned in previous coverage of the ProView saga, ProView’s listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was suspended in 2010 when the company filed for bankruptcy.
In an interview with The Guardian, Yang Long-san, ProView’s Chief Executive said that he wants to resolve all of these “frustrating problems” and put them behind the company.
“If we can resolve all the problems we have now and I have a chance to make a comeback, I’d still want to overtake my old competitors,” Yang added. “I hope we can return to our glory days. I’m sure our shareholders are hoping for the same.”
Tags: proview