Shanghai court gives Apple interim relief by rejecting Chinese tech firm's request to stop iPad sal

Shanghai, Feb 24 (ANI): A Shanghai court has rejected an appeal from a Chinese tech firm to ban sales of Apple's widely popular iPad in the city.

China's Shenzhen Proview Technology that says it owns the rights to the iPad trademark recently won a lower court ruling to ban sales of Apple's computer tablet in Guangdong province.

Proview, the firm based in the country's Guangdong province, is utilizing lawsuits in several places and is requesting commercial authorities in 40 cities to block iPad sales.

But the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court said it could not support Proview's application because no ruling has been made on whether Apple has violated Proview's exclusive right to use the iPad trademark, The China Daily reports.

A lawsuit over the right to use the trademark in China is still under the second instance trial at Guangzhou people's higher court, which is scheduled to hold a hearing on Wednesday.

According to the report, Xie Jinnan, a lawyer for Apple, said he was notified about the court's decision but is not authorized to make further comments on the case.

Meanwhile, Apple claims that it does hold trademark rights to the iPad in China.

"We bought Proview"s worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago," Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu earlier said.

"Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple in China and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter," Wu added.

Lawyers representing Apple have accused Proview of breaching 'principles of good faith and fair dealing' and of making 'false and misleading' statements. (ANI)