Earlier this month, Apple agreed to pay US$60 million for ownership of the iPad trademark in China as part of a settlement with little-known Chinese firm Proview that had tried to ban sales of the tablet in the country.
But since the court-ordered payout, Proview’s lawyers who helped the company win the trademark dispute are still waiting to be paid for their services.
According to Sina Tech, Grandall Law Firm claims that Proview has refused to pay the agreed four percent of Apple’s settlement fee, totalling US$2.4 million.
Proview founder Yang Rongshan has responded to the claims. telling Sina Tech that Grandall’s behaviour is “nonsense,” and that his company isn’t obligated to pay the fees immediately because it isn’t under normal operation at the moment.
Yang, however, has vowed that Proview won’t “pass the buck” and will make the payment in due process.
The lawyers probably signed the contract with the wrong division of the company or with an unauthorised individual.