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Proview now suing Apple in the US

Proview stepped up its legal assault against Apple by taking its complaint to the US court system. Earlier this month, U.S.-based Proview Technology Inc. filed a suit against Apple in the Superior Court of the State of California in Santa Clara County. The suit claims Apple acted with "oppression, fraud and/or malice" when it bought the iPad trademark from Proview Taiwan.

The heart of Proview's complaint is the method Apple used to obtain this trademark. Proview Taiwan sold the iPad trademark to the UK-based IP Application Development on Dec. 23, 2009 for the sum of 35,000 British pounds (US$55,000). It was later discovered that IP Application Development was a company setup by Apple to obtain this trademark.

Apple insists that it purchased the trademark legally and that "Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple in China, and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter." Apple and Proview will go head-to-head again in China later this month. A Guandong high court will hear arguments on February 29th in an appeal by Apple that seeks to overturn an earlier ruling which said Proview still owns the iPad trademark.