The iPad will remain on sale in Shanghai for now, after a local court denied efforts by China’s Proview to force retailers to remove the tablets from their stores. Proview, which makes computer monitors, is fighting Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) in courts all over China for the rights to the iPad name.
“I think all eyes should be on this Shenzhen appellate case later this month,” says Stan Abrams, a law professor in Beijing who has been following the cases. The Shenzhen court ruled in Proview’s favor earlier this month, and iPads were removed from store shelves. The appeal in that case is expected to be heard on Wednesday, February 29.
With its $97 billion cash hoard, Apple could end the cases quickly by setting with Proview. Proview’s monitor business is in decline, and the company has more to gain from a cash settlement than from holding onto the iPad name. But Abrams says that Apple is not ready to give in. “I have a feeling that the two sides are pretty far apart on a number,” he told RCR Wireless News earlier this month.
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