A visitor experiences an iPad at an electronics shop in Tianjin. Part of Proview's strategy has been to request a ban on sales. [Photo / China Daily]

One seal missing

The final round in court will also hear legalities about Apple's original effort to acquire the name.

Using a UK shell company, Apple bought the iPad trademark from Taiwan Proview Electronics in 2009.

According to Wang Tianle, general manager of the Henan trademark law firm Windbrand, Apple "might have thought the deal included the Chinese mainland" as the corporate representative of both Shenzhen and Taiwan Proview was the same person - Rowell Yang, also known as Yang Long-san.

But Apple failed to notice the difference in regulations between Taiwan and the mainland, Wang said.

"In Taiwan, the signature of the company's chairman on the contract will be OK, but according to laws on the Chinese mainland, the company's seal counts," he explained.

The contract for the iPad trademark transfer does not include the seal of Proview Technology.

"If Apple and Yang both understood that the contract included Shenzhen Proview and affixed a seal (of the Shenzhen company), then there would not be a dispute now," he said.

More than a trademark

Industry insiders say the impact of the case goes beyond a trademark.

"It is hard to say which side is cheating the other," Wang said. "It has now come to a stage that is not just as simple as a trademark dispute, but rather like fighting for bigger benefits.

"One trademark can revive a company, and can ruin it, too," he said. "Foreign companies have been using intellectual property as a weapon on Chinese counterparts and the iPad event may become a great victory for a Chinese company in the IP battlefield.

"But in the end, they must calm down and compete in a rational way," he added.

"Compared with developed countries, China has limited competence in protecting intellectual property rights," said attorney Qu. "Today, competition among big companies is about intellectual property."

"Apple products have very simple names that are easy to register as trademarks by others," said You. "If Apple insists it will not change the names, it has to face the problem of purchasing trademarks on a global scale."

Facebook, another global IT giant, has filed dozens of trademark applications in China since 2006, although it has yet to enter the market.