Now Apple are being sued in China over Snow Leopard
Just days after Apple had to fork out £38 million in China to protect the iPad name, and now they’re being sued for copyright infringement over there yet again.
A household chemical company named Jiangsu Xuebao have filed a lawsuit over Apple’s use of “Snow Leopard”, the name of their 2009 desktop operating system. According to Kotaku, Jiangsu Xuebao are specifically miffed about the word “xuebao” (雪豹), which is Chinese for “snow leopard”.
Jiangsu Xuebao filed a trademark for the use of “xuebao”, or “snow leopard”, back in the year 2000, for use in electrical equipment. They’re now contesting that Mac OS X Snow Leopard infringes on the use of their “xuebao” trademark.
Though a Shanghai court is set to hear Jiangsu Xuebao’s suit later this month, they’re not expected to win. Though the OS is called Snow Leopard, Apple do not use the Chinese-specific “xuebao” in their marketing materials for the operating system.
Jiangsu Xuebao are seeking $80,000 worth of damages.
