More Ipads are seized in China

GADGET FLOGGER Apple is suffering more damage in China as authorities in a second city have begun seizing Ipads from local retailers.

The Chinese crackdown is the latest in the trademark dispute between Apple and an insolvent maker of computer displays, Shenzhen Proview Technology.

According to the New York Times (paywalled), a lawyer for Proview's creditors and the company said that the Ipads are under "temporary impoundment" from retailers in Xuzhou, a city of 1.8 million people in coastal Jiangsu Province. China's state-owned CCTV television confirmed the seizures in Xuzhou.

On Monday, we reported that China's law enforcement authorities were targeting stores in the northern city of Shijiazhuang, southwest of Beijing. Shenzhen Proview Technology is looking to extend the tablet clampdown to as many as 20 other cities.

Shenzhen Proview Technology claims to have owned the Ipad name in China since as early as 2000, but that did not stop Apple from trying claim the name last year.

A Chinese court rejected Apple's claim to the name last December, meaning that it could no longer use the Ipad name in the country. Now Chinese authorities acting on behalf of Shenzhen Proview Technology have started seizing tablets bearing the name.

Apparently, Shenzhen Proview Technology has also made a filing with the General Administration of Customs in China, which puts Apple on notice that the company could seek to block the export of Ipads if its claims are upheld.

Shenzhen Proview Technology has indicated that it will settle the case in or out of court. µ