This seems like an easy one. Apple, move your manufacturing to another country.

yeah, like to the original one?

I'll give a damn about Apple when they get pissed enough to move their manufacturing back to the US.

The whole technology trademark, patent landscape has turned into nothing more than a whole series of extortion attempts.

Trademarks go to the entity with the most recognizable brand.

Where is the Proview iPad? Oh, that's right. There isn't one.

Extortion. Pure and simple.

.

well, if this isn't the pot calling the kettle black.

how hypocritical is it when china, which more or less looks the other way when they pirate other country's intellectual property, suddenly goes after said property when it infringes on their own?

Apple does this to companies EVERY DAY. They have become what they hated in the 80's. So be it.

ROFL the irony. Apple a company that has come to symbolize the internet with iPhones and iPads is being stopped by an intellectual property lawsuit in China. A country that has some of the highest incidents of intellectual property theft. (Movies, music, brand name imitations, etc)

I see the Chinese government is being a little selective in the enforcement of intellectual property laws. Wonder what Apple did to upset China or if this is just China protecting one of their own and wanting some bribery money to use the iPad name in China?

ScoMata... they have become what they TOLD you they hated in the 80's to try to convince you to buy their products.

Free iPads for all the local officials. What a joke...

The specific term for this business practice is a "shakedown".

China in many ways is the wild west. Doing business there can be profitable but risky. You have to be willing to take your lumps. And if you give your secret formulas and blue prints to them, be prepared to get bushwhacked.

1776, how can it be extortion when they TM'ed in 2001? Years before Apple even thought of an iPad?

All of you complaining that this is unfair to Apple need to go read the article again and recognize the dates involved. "iPad" was registered as a trademark in 1999. The first iPad was released in 2010. (The first "iPhone" wasn't even released until 2007.) So basically, this company has had the rights to this name for over 10 years. The only "iAnything" older than 1999 is the iMac and a LOT of companies registered "iXxxxx" names in the late 90s - not just Apple.

So basically, Apple tried to sneak in the back-door with "iPad" by buying rights to the iPad name for about $50k from a child-company instead of the real trademark holder. Anyone else suspect they did that for a reason other than just random chance? Apple is suing Samsung for infringing on things they have copyrighted in "user experience" that are just plain common sense. As long as patent/trademark/copyright law is stuck in the dark ages and allows the most basic of concepts to be protected, then I think this action is only fair - and I hope this company sticks it to them.

Of course my real opinion is that the system is completely broken and that IP trolls like this shouldn't exist in the first place (but as long as Apple is going to act like an IP troll, fair is fair).

Daniel Scott Smith:

yeah, like to the original one?

"Those jobs are not coming back!" - Steve Jobs

Apple - the greedy scum company - steve jobs was a mean greedy man with ZERO morals.

I have never bought a apple product yet. I am 50 and hold two bachelors in electronic technical fields..

Apple is the most horrible, over rated company and a true top of the line corporate greedy company. They care NOTHING about people period.

Steve jobs was a pathetic man... The Apple company is even more pathetic. They started first by ripping off the BEATLES "APPLE" label.

Screw Apple I hope they fold fast and die quick.

I bet the folks at Samsung are all smiles as they read this. Apple now knows how it feels, I hope they are blocked for a long long time.

This is nothing new. Foreign companies in China are discriminated against every day as the local mandarins favor and take bribes from domestic businesses. The government there is still stuck in the 19th century. As Chinese companies develop their own IP assets, and foreign companies trample on their rights while foreign governments turn a blind eye, the Chinese will regret not having taken the rules of international commerce more seriously.

If you know anything about the history of Steve Job you'd know it was most likely despite his wishes that Apple is manufacturing in China. For one thing Steve Jobs was a big control freak. He'd want direct control of manufacturing and he didn't have that with China. The Apple II and early Mac was manufactured with that control. Also Apple is about secrecy. When the product is made by suppliers you lose control over product. Despite this Apple cannot afford NOT to make in China unless other companies also withdraw or until robotics can do it all.

You are right. Capitalist greed VS Communist greed. Wanna bet on which one wins. Hint - they change viewpoints like underwear.

Eeeuuwww....dirty viewpoints.

I think you're confused. The factory workers are Foxconn employees, not Apple employees -- and by Chinese standards, they are paid and treated better than many other Chinese workers at other companies. Apple can demand better conditions, but it's still up to Foxconn.

I agree that patent wars have gotten out of hand. Witness the fact the Google felt compelled to pay billions for Motorola Mobility just to get its patents, to protect Android. Should successful companies like Apple and Google just sit around and let every hungry company sue the pants off them? No, they should counter-sue.

That's true, they are Foxconn employees and not Apple employees.

As for the counter-suing point, I agree that Google should step into the game and quiet the Big Apple, but it also sounds like they would be just as bad as Apple, and playing the 'sue everybody' game. We don't hear much from other companies trying to sue other companies for patent infringement, cause most of the oblivious patents are owned by Apple. I mean come on, touch a URL and it directs you to a page? How they got a patent on that I have no idea! But the only company I see having an issue with everyone else is Apple. Google is definitely taking the high road on this, and it wouldn't surprise me if they disabled all their apps on the iPhone/iPad to prove a point.

Hey apple fanboy...Apple CHOOSES to hire Foxconn. If they cared about human rights they wouldn't. They could build them here and make plenty of profit.

Why do liberals always run away from personal responsibility. They can't run from this one...

If we all behaved like Americans and stopped the "labeling", conservative vs. liberal, democrat vs. republican, maybe we could start forcing these companies back the US. It may require some personal sacrifice like paying a bit more for our comfort items. I'm not sure many Americans are willing to sacrifice anymore for the common good. I am sure that big business only cares about one thing, profits! And that goes double for the two faced Steve Jobs!

Who cares Masta, they stole their technology from Apple anyway. Sooner or later Google will end up paying their due to Apple for what they stole. Apple is a miserable profit monger, but it's still not ok to steal from them.

What are you talking about Google stealing from Apple? Apple stole the Notifications area that Android uses, including the swipe down. Apple stole Voice to text input from Google. Google had the cloud way before Apple. Google had wireless syncing in Android way before Apple. Apple claims to create the 'click to url' function that existed way before iPhone even came out?! Heck, Apple even made the bold argument that they created the 'omnibox' that Google has created, developed and being used in Chrome and Android to date!

So who is stealing from who? You can't say that everyone steals from Apple because they created it first, because that statement is false, and there is enough evidence in the internet to prove this well known fact!

The only part of your argument i can agree with, is:

Apple is a miserable profit monger

And that's it.

There is no "high moral ground" on either side.

Well at least they do something about it, instead of waging legal battles that last well over a year over a patent that shouldn't exist in the first place.

And what would "responding appropriately" entail? Starting a trade war? Raising import taxes? When will the U.S. understand that it is not the side with leverage here. We will come out on the losing end of whatever tactics we try to use, as we are now beholden to Chinese imports. It's best that Apple just take its lumps and walk away while it's still ahead.

Sorry to rock your world here but china already started a trade war. You can sit back and take it if you want, but i refuse to sit idly by while we are taken advantage of. It's that "let them do whatever" attitude that got us into this mess to begin with.

China has been at war(shooting or trade) with the US since 1950. We can only hope they grow out of it with time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connie_Chung

by the looks of this, not much.

I have a feeling they are already doing that...

This is exactly what happened when McDonnell Douglas made DC-9 Jets in china decades ago.

Take a look at thier new passenger jet next to a picture of DC-9/MD-80.

They have FAR fewer scruples than we do, make no mistake.

ok, so they won't call it an Ipad.

It would be funny if this gets messed up in translation and they call it an "I-Tampon"

Good one, Detroit! ROTFL!

Are you mentally impaired? What the hell does "liberal" have to do with any of this?

Are you kidding? There is nothing liberal about Apple.

Are you kidding? There is nothing liberal about Apple.

Except most of their customer base, employees, and corporate culture.

I simply wish more American companies ran with the business sense and sensitivity that Apple demonstrates everyday.

They used to and they were extremely rich but the 14th amendment prevents it today.

the apple slaves are killing themselves by jumping off the factory roof.I would not say they are happy.Do you read the news or just watch fox like everyone else that cant think for themselves ?

There is no sensitivity to Apple. except that bump as they run you over

So stealing technology and seuing the companies they stole is from like Apple is how we should do business? Really? They have become what they hated in that famous commjercial, they have become another IBM. How ironic.

Steve Jobs makes some of these banksters look like humanitarians.

One of his last projects was to shield his immense fortune from taxes.

the apple slaves are killing themselves by jumping off the factory roof.I would not say they are happy.Do you read the news or just watch fox like everyone else that cant think for themselves ?

You might be interested in knowing two facts:

1.) Foxconn employees are not employed by Apple.
2.) The suicide rate of Foxconn factory workers is actually far lower than that of the entire populace of China.

Far be it from me to get in the way of sensationalist reporting, though.

There has been a lot of focus on the instances of suicide at Foxconn plants, however have these deaths been directly linked to the working conditions? All other factors considered, for anyone who is actually paying attention, it's pretty clear that conditions in the consumer electronics manufacturing industry are far better than any other options presented to Chinese citizens, however abhorrent you consider them to be.

You do realize that if Apple goes bankrupt, there are many Americans whose lives will be negatively affected correct? Not just the 10's of thousands that directly work for Apple but the 100's of thousands that work in ancillary industries?

While I am all for them facing repercussions due to their reliance on foreign manufacturing, wishing them to go bankrupt won't solve any issues we have here in the US.

How much could you care less? Just a little or a whole lot? I COULDN'T care less is what you are looking for.

As for what you say about them going bankrupt, I COULDN'T care less about your comment. A Company that outsources some of their work also employ here in the US. Them going bankrupt won't solve anything. I have an Apple call center right across the street from my place of business. Do you hope those hundreds of employees lose their jobs? Dell outsourced their call center. Do you hope the thousands of tech and manufacturing jobs held here are wiped away? Think before you type.

'Forced factory workers?' 'Slave laborpractice?' It seems to me that they had a line out of the door with people trying to get a job in these 'apple sweatshops.'

I am no Apple fanboy, but what you are saying is just ridiculous.

its a fact.check it out.

It isn't a fact, and I have checked it out.

MSNBC erased my link. Google "China lines up for Apple jobs." It is an interesting read.

Just because your standard of living is better than that of a Foxconn worker doesn't mean that they are working slave labor. People are working there because they get paid more than the would working anywhere else.

And that is a fact!

its a fact.check it out.

Keith, as long as we're talking about "facts" I suggest you at least learn how to use Google along with critical thinking skills. Check out my reply to you at #15.5

their* sholud be "they're", or "they are"

I have no love of Apple, but don't disparage people. Seems infantile.

I figured he was either too stupid to figure out how to get rid of the sig, or he was one of those shallow minded idiots who actually believed having an iPhone was a sign of intelligence and would impress anyone but other shallow minded idiots.

Or he thought nothing of the signature line or its perceived importance to the hiring manager he was corresponding with. I typically see a mobile signature line as conveyance that the individual is conscientious enough to take the time to respond to you despite being busy or on the go.

In China? That is never going to happen. The problem with the American people is that they believe that every foreign country's rules and regulations are run like the USA.

Yes, we created the beast and now we are stuck with it. Moving manufacturing out of China and starving the beast is the only way to deal with China.

Who needs a $1,200.00 iPad? The consumer cannot afford for Apple to manufacture in the US.

It would not cost $1200 (or whatever other imagined high price) if they did not operate at obcene profit margins 30-60%. If they were happy with what Exxon Mobile gets, about 8%, they could be competative.

No one "needs" an Ipad at all.

Who is to say what an "obscene" profit margin really is? Apple will price as dictated by the market and their ability to market their products. Considering their overhead beyond the cost of the components, at what price would they make any profit at all manufacturing in America? That's the real question, and one that is difficult to answer, but I am willing to bet that it is higher than the current retail pricing.

Dude, you got a better machine.