Make the patents office your first port of call in Asia

ASIA BRIEFING:WHEN IT comes to selling your product in Asia, get your trademark and intellectual property rights issues sorted out first, and make sure you are covered in the individual country in question, because a worldwide trademark doesn't always mean the whole world.

It’s one of those oft-repeated and invaluable pieces of advice that old Asia hands tend to dispense in hotel bars around the region. And one that is well worth heeding.

Take a look at the storm that Apple is dealing with in China, where Shenzhen-based Proview International Holdings is trying to stop the consumer electronics giant from using the iPad name in China.

It has even launched an attack on Apple’s home turf, filing a lawsuit in California that accuses the iPhone-maker of deception when it bought the “iPad” trademark.

Apple says it bought the rights to the name years ago and insists it is operating entirely legally.

But Proview, which last year won a judgment in a Chinese court which said it owned the name in China, has claimed otherwise and, according to local media reports, is seeking up to 10 billion yuan (€1.2 billion) in compensation from the US firm.

A unit of Proview is already suing Apple in multiple Chinese jurisdictions and requesting that sales of iPads be suspended across the country, Apple’s fastest-growing market.

And it would also hit sales elsewhere, because its worldwide supplies of iPads come from the country.

The move could, in theory, lead to serious shortages of iPads around the world.