Sina Technology News, evening of February 15th - Following Amazon (Weibo), Suning Yi Purchase (Weibo), JD.com (Weibo) Mall and Gome Online Mall have also taken down all their Apple iPad products. However, the B2C e-commerce companies are tight-lipped about the reason for taking down the iPads. Although outside speculation suggests it is related to the trademark dispute case of iPad in China, the aforementioned e-commerce companies have not directly responded to this.
Yesterday, Amazon China was the first to take down iPad products. A responsible person from Amazon China stated that they received a notice from Apple to take down the product but did not disclose the reason for the takedown. Not only Amazon China, but yesterday Suning Yi Purchase could also no longer search for iPad products. Today, Dangdang (Weibo) Network once expressed that the company is considering whether to take down iPad products.
This afternoon, JD.com also took measures to remove the iPad. Although JD's relevant responsible person did not comment on why it was taken down, outsiders still speculate that it might be related to the trademark case between Weiguan and Apple.
Another e-commerce company, Gome Online Mall, has also taken down the iPad but explained to the media that "the product was taken down due to temporary business adjustments on the website", and emphasized that Gome Online Mall still has a large inventory of iPads, which may be relisted after a few days. Gome stressed that "no notification has been received from any institution."
This means that the trademark controversy of iPad in China may have already affected its online sales channels. The background of this case is: In 2001, Weiguan registered the iPad trademark in mainland China. In 2010, when iPad entered mainland China, Apple sued Shenzhen Weiguan to request the court to determine the ownership of the trademark, but was ruled against in early December 2011.
After Apple lost the lawsuit, Weiguan sent lawyer letters to various industrial and commercial departments across the country in February this year, demanding the seizure of iPads currently on sale. A few days ago, the industrial and commercial departments in Hebei region began sealing off the physical store iPad products.
Regarding the offline network channel, Ma Dongxiao, the agent lawyer of Shenzhen Weiguan, when connected by Sina Technology, stated that Weiguan did not specifically request the Beijing Industrial and Commercial Department to seal off the online sales channels of iPads. He admitted that he does not understand the reason why Apple requested the e-commerce websites to take down the iPads.
Other sources pointed out that in fact, Amazon had taken down iPads as early as January this year, but the specific reasons were unknown. This collective takedown of iPads could also be related to Apple's adjustment of its sales channel strategy in China. (Cui Xi, Yun Fang)