Apple gets sued over Snow Leopard name

BSD UNIX SKINNER Apple is being sued in China because its Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system shares a name with one registered to a Chinese household chemical company.

Apple has not confirmed this yet, but Micgadget reports that a lawsuit has been filed and says that Apple is accused of taking a trademark that belongs to Jiangsu Xuebao and relates to electrical equipment.

Jiangsu Xuebao registered the trademark in China in 2000. Now it claims that Apple Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard violates it.

A hearing on the case is set for 10 July, and if everything goes according to Jiangsu Xuebao's plans the firm will get around £50,000 and an apology from Apple.

One argument though, which might work very well in Apple's favour, is that the firm has never used the Chinese wording to describe its operating system. µ