(
)
Apple — which is usually the one to come out on top in technology legal battles — appears to have met its match in a small struggling Chinese firm.
Just days after its stock closed above $500 for the first time, Apple has been dinged in a trademark dispute with Proview Technology over control of the iPad name in mainland China.
Yesterday, Apple asked Amazon to halt sales of its iPad there after a Chinese court ruled in favor of Proview. While it’s unclear if the move was related to the trademark dispute, the turmoil spooked investors who had been riding Apple stock highs of late.
Apple shares fell $11.79, or 2.3 percent, to $497.67 yesterday after rising as high as $525 earlier in the day.
Proview CEO Yang Long-san claims that Apple negotiated for the iPad name with a subsidiary, but did not buy the mainland China rights. Proview is seeking to enforce a ban on iPad sales in China while the dispute works its way through the courts.
Chinese authorities have seized iPads from local stores in at least two cities, according to reports. Proview is even looking to ban exports of iPads made in the country — unless Apple agrees to a big payday.
Proview, once a sizable manufacturer of computer monitors before hitting financial trouble, has indicated it would settle out of court and is reportedly looking for around $1.6 billion. Apple paid $55,000 to Proview or its subsidiary in 2006 for rights to use the iPad trademark in 10 countries.
Resolving the dispute is a top priority for Apple as it has enjoyed surging growth and popularity in that country to the tune of $13 billion in sales last year.
Apple is expected to launch the next-generation iPad — if it can be called that in China — next month.
As Apple has gained in market cap, becoming the world’s most valuable company, it has become the elephant on the scales of the major indexes — any shift in its position moves markets.
Some on Wall Street have suggested Nasdaq could re-calibrate its index in light of Apple’s gaining influence, a tactic the index has employed in the past to the short-term detriment of Apple’s share price.