Chinese court orders halt on iPad sales

Apple has been ordered to stop selling iPads in Huizhou, a city in southern China. This after a court ruled that sales of the device by local manufacturers violated the rights of Proview — a manufacturer engaged in an increasingly wide-ranging dispute with the tech giant.

According to the Associated Press, Proview has asked regulators to seize iPads and may demand a pay-out from Apple.

The dispute arose after Proview claimed that it held the rights to the iPad name, and has been an ongoing source of friction between the two companies since 2010.

According to TheNextWeb, the company will also push for a trade ban, but really wants to be “properly” paid out for use of the name.

Apple insists, however, that it paid Proview US$35 000 for the rights to use the trademark and that it has email evidence backing up this claim.

The dispute has already seen major Chinese retailers removing iPads from their shelves. In some cases though this may have been less to do with the court case and more with the fact that Apple had ordered the device be removed from stores which were not registered to sell it.

Apple is no stranger to extensive legal battles, having spent more than US$100-million in court in 2011. A large portion of this was spent on patent battles with fellow tech giant Samsung.

Moreover Apple Insider reports that Chinese officials think that a direct ban on importing the iPad into China would be “difficult to implement”.

Apple products are immensely popular in China, with thriving grey and black markets having sprung up in a number of cities.