After all the hype recently revolving around Apple and its legal battle with Proview in China over the iPad trademark, the iPhone maker is now involved in yet another trademark dispute in the country. This time, Apple is under fire for naming its Mac OS X 10.6 operating system "Snow Leopard."
M.I.C. Gadget has discovered a report by Chinese news service DSQQ, according to which a Chinese chemical company called Jiangsu Xuebao has filed a lawsuit against Apple in China over the right to use the name in the country. "Xuebao" means "snow leopard," and the Chinese company has registered the trademark of the Chinese translation of "Snow Leopard" - "Xuebao (雪豹)" back in 2000, the same year that Proview registered the IPAD trademark. Jiangsu Xuebao claimed Apple's "Snow Leopard" OS has violated its trademark. The Chinese company's Web site shows that it uses both the Xuebao Chinese characters and the English words "snow leopard" to identify itself.
Moreover, the Chinese company claims Apple is "making a knowing infringement," as the iPhone maker had sought to apply for the "Snow Leopard" trademark in China back in 2008, but was rejected by the trademark office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
Jiangsu Xuebao, a.k.a. Snow Leopard Household Chemical Co. Ltd. noted it holds 42 registered trademarks for Snow Leopard across various classes of products, including that of computer products registered in 1994. The Chinese chemical company, however, mainly manufactures household commodity products such as detergent, shoe polish or toothpaste.
The company brought the case to a court in Shanghai, and also filed suit against four companies that advertise and sell Apple's Snow Leopard operating system. This lawsuit comes just days after Apple agreed to pay US$60 million to settle the iPad trademark dispute with Proview Technology. Some even started teasing that private Chinese companies have found "a new tactic to make money," but Jiangsu Xuebao seems to have more modest expectations.
Xuebao is seeking 500,000 yuan, i.e. roughly $79,000, in damages, as well as a formal apology from the Cupertino, California-based tech giant. On Wednesday, July 4, Xuebao said its lawsuit should not be compared with the high-profile Proview case, as it was seeking only a "nominal" amount in damages. Its ultimate goal allegedly is to have Apple stop using the Snow Leopard name and apologize for the trademark infringement.
The DSQQ report, however, also cited a Chinese legal expert who claimed the lawsuit is not likely to succeed, as Apple did not use the word Xuebao to sell its product in the country. The Shanghai court will start its hearing next week, on July 10.
