Shanghai court accepts case against Apple Inc

The Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court yesterday accepted a civil suit from a local company against United States tech giant Apple Inc for trademark infringement in relation to a cellphone app.

The case was filed after the plaintiff, Shanghai Homevv Co, discovered Apple was selling an online shopping program via its app store that carried Homevv's registered trademark and referenced its website.

The product, however, had been produced by Shanghai Woshang Information Technology Co, which registered it with the Apple store.

Following the discovery, Homevv last month made several requests for Apple to remove the program from its store, but received no reply, Ma Yongjian, a lawyer representing the plaintiff, told Shanghai Daily.

Apple was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Homevv said it registered a trademark for its website in 2012 and developed the application earlier this year.

It said it wanted to have the product featured in the Apple store and made three approaches to the company in April and May. Each time, the app was rejected, with the US company saying on the third occasion that the product already existed, Ma said.

It was then that Homevv discovered the alleged imposter, and decided to take legal action, he said.

The company is demanding more than 100 million yuan (US$16 million) in compensation from Apple and Shanghai Woshang Information Technology Co, the court said.

It is also seeking public apologies from the pair and has requested they stop infringing its trademarks. Homevv also asked Apple to remove the app from its store and told Woshang to destroy it.

The court has yet to set a date for the hearing.