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The outcome reflects Chinese courts' preference for encouraging adversaries in commercial disputes to settle instead of pushing for a ruling, Abrams said. He said the relatively small size of the settlement by Apple's standards suggested Proview gave in, possibly under pressure from either its creditors or the court. All of Apple's iPads are made in China by Foxconn Technologies Group, which employs more than 1 million people in sprawling factories. Brazil's government says Taiwan-based Foxconn plans to open factories there to produce iPads and other products. Shenzhen Proview Technology is a subsidiary of LCD screen maker Proview International Holdings Ltd., headquartered in Hong Kong. A Hong Kong court ruled in July that Proview and the Taiwan company both were "clearly under the control" of the same Taiwanese businessman, Yang Long-san, and had refused to take steps required to transfer the name under the agreement. The judge said the companies acted together "with the common intention of injuring Apple." However, that judgment had no automatic force in the mainland case because Hong Kong, while Chinese territory, has a separate legal system. Apple also ran into a trademark dispute before it launched the iPhone in 2007. Cisco Systems Inc., the maker of networking hardware, had owned the trademark since 2000 and used it for a line of Internet-connected desk phones. After Cisco sued, the companies reached an undisclosed settlement and the phone launch went off as planned. The dispute came amid complaints Beijing is failing to stamp out rampant unlicensed Chinese copying of goods ranging from music and Hollywood movies to designer clothing and pharmaceuticals. But unlike "trademark squatters" who register names of products already sold abroad and then demand foreign companies pay for the Chinese rights, Proview registered the iPad name long before Apple planned its tablet computer. "The only thing companies really should take form this case is, be careful when you do transactions, be careful with your contracts," Abrams said. "Be careful you're doing it the right way or you could pay a lot for your mistakes."
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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