据称苹果（Apple）从唯冠（Proview International Holdings）手中购得iPad商标后35天，史蒂夫•乔布斯就在于旧金山举行的新闻发布会上公布了该设备。以下是苹果购得该商标的过程：

    • 苹果聘请一家名为Farncombe International的英国公司及其常务董事格雷厄姆•罗宾逊，充当自己的秘密代理。

    • 罗宾逊随后在英国成立一家名为IP Application Development Limited的皮包公司（简称“IPAD Ltd”）

    • 罗宾逊隐瞒了自己实为苹果代理的事实，化名为乔纳森•哈格里夫斯与台湾唯冠进行谈判。

    • 当被问及为何需要此商标时，罗宾逊称，iPad是IP Application Development的缩写。

    • 当问到IPAD Ltd的具体业务时，罗宾逊采取了回避的态度。他说：“我相信你们能理解，由于公司还没有发布任何公开声明，所以我们还没准备好公开公司的业务信息。”

    • 罗宾逊还在电子邮件中明确保证：“我们不会和唯冠形成竞争。”

    以上细节，有的我们已经熟知，有的还是第一次听说。它们的来源都是本周一唯冠发布的一篇新闻稿。新闻稿指出，（唯冠）已修改在加州联邦法院对苹果提起的控诉，指控苹果“蓄意误导诈骗、隐瞒欺诈、引诱诈骗以及不公平竞争。”

    苹果就此发表评论时，完全没有否认起诉书中提到的上述细节。相反，它再次发布了公司大概一周前就已发布的一篇声明。

    “我们已在数年前购买了唯冠在全球十个不同国家的（iPad商标）所有权。唯冠拒绝履行协议中涉及中国部分。香港一家法院已表示支持苹果。我们在中国大陆的诉讼仍在进行中。”

    讽刺的是，唯冠正试图使美国法院判决一项协议无效，而该公司在中国当地的法院中却声称该协议并不存在。苹果称自己根据该协议购买了在中国大陆地区对iPad商标的所有权。

    唯冠在新闻稿中对此回应道：

    “（我们）在中国和美国提起的法律诉讼和赔偿请求完全是两回事，两者之间没有任何联系。”

    译者：项航

    Here's how Apple (AAPL) allegedly got Proview International Holdings to sell them the iPad trademark 35 days before Steve Jobs unveiled the device at a San Francisco press conference.

    • Apple hired a British firm called Farncombe International and its managing director, Graham Robinson, to be its secret agent.

    • Robinson created a British shell company called IP Application Development Limited ("IPAD Ltd.").

    • Using the alias Jonathan Hargreaves, Robinson opened talks in Taiwan with Proview, concealing the fact that he was negotiating on Apple's behalf.

    • Asked why he wanted the trademark, Robinson said it was an acronym for IP Application Development.

    • Asked what business IPAD Ltd. was in, Robinson was evasive: "I'm sure you can understand that we are not ready to publicize what the company's business is," he said, "since we have not yet made any public announcements."

    • He further stated, apparently in an e-mail, that "the company will not compete with Proview."

    These details -- some familiar, some fresh -- come from a Proview press release issued Monday. It describes an amended complaint filed in a California federal court that is charging Apple with "fraud by intentional misrepresentation, fraud by concealment, fraudulent inducement, and unfair competition."

    Reached for comment, Apple denied none of the details in the complaint. Rather, it issued the same statement it's been giving out for nearly a week:

    "We bought Proview's worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago. Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple in China and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter. Our case is still pending in mainland China."

    The irony is that Proview is trying to get a U.S. court to nullify an agreement that it claims in Chinese courts never existed -- namely the one that Apple says sold them the rights to the iPad trademark in mainland China.

    Proview's press release has answer for that:

    "The legal questions and remedies in the China and U.S. lawsuits are separate and distinct and have no bearing on one another."