Chinese Clone Maker May Sue Apple Over iPad

Ed Sutherland ()

Chinese Clone Maker May Sue Apple Over iPad

How do you get more attention for a largely unknown netbook at a time when the tech press has the vapors for Apple’s iPad? You sue Apple and claim its new device is just a clone of your netbook, thus grabbing some headlines for a day or two. China’s Shenzhen Great Loong Brothers said it might sue Apple, claiming the iPad looks like its P88.

The Chinese company’s president Xiaolong Wu, in an interview with Spain’s El Mundo, said if Apple tries to sell the iPad in China he “won’t have any choice but to report them [Apple],” noting the device would hurt his sales.

Although the P88 and the iPad seem to share a similar 10-inch screen and a black bezel, Wu said the two devices are “completely identical.” However, aside from the glaring difference – the P88 is Windows-based and the iPad uses Apple’s iPhone OS – there are several others. The P88 uses resistive touch while the iPad uses a multi-touch screen. The Chinese devices also includes a 250GB hard drive, a Webcam, and is thicker and heavier than the iPad. The “completely identical” features are rounded out with a 1.5-hour battery life.

[Via El Mundo, Gadget Lab, PCWorld]

DON'T MISS
iPhone 5 to Sport Metal Chassis Like iPod Touch, No 4-Inch Screen [Rumor]

14 comments »

About the author

Ed Sutherland

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

(sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)| Read more posts by .

Posted in News |

  • Dave

    Haha,
    I read somewhere that this device even runs on Windows XP, a more than 8 jears old system.
    How would something like that ever be able to compeet to Apple’s very updated systems. ( I mean, my macbook OS is ’bout 4 months old ).

    To my opinion it’s just some extra attention for their company!

  • http://www.phunked.nl niels

    what, Apple cloned the P88, I think the P88 is a cloen of the 1st generation iPhone. At least the design is :)

  • Peter

    “The Chinese company’s president Xiaolong Wu, in an interview with Spain’s El Mundo, said if Apple tries to sell the iPad in China he “won’t have any choice but to report them [Apple],” noting the device would hurt his sales.”

    This made me laugh. Poor man, he seriously believes he has ever had sales.

  • Scott

    I’d be careful if I were Xiaolong Wu, I hear they shoot people in China for being an embarrassment. Just ask China’s food and drug czar, Zheng Xiaoyu (oh wait…).

  • gadgetgeek

    The Chinese should not be allowed to sue anyone. They are the worst copyright-criminals in the entire planet, cloning and copying American ideas all the time, and always getting away with it. The China government often shrugs when they know their people get away with stealing American inventions and ideas.

    The Chinese accusing Apple guilty of copyright/patent infringement is like Iran lambasting the USA for being a sponsor of terrorism.

  • http://www.geekspodcast.com Joshua

    How dare Apple infringe on this clearly superior product’s marketshare!

  • firesign3000

    I love the name of the company, personally.

  • iFanBoy

    Gotta agree with gadgetgeek. Chinese companies don’t have a leg to stand on. They rip ideas and patents from silicon valley all the time, with impunity, and their People’s Republic lets them get away with it. So any court outside of China should instantly dismiss this case against Apple.

  • NewJohnny

    But there’s a Windows logo on it. How is that a clone? They’re both square?

  • rob

    Let me explain how this went.
    First, you are a Chinese company nobody has heard about.
    You decide to do something about that.
    You read the news and discover what everyone has been excited about for about a year, that a company named Apple is very very likely to come out with a “new concept” a slate-like touch computer.
    You decide to copy the higly original design of Apple’s products, since every other phone now looks like an iPhone and you are based in China anyway, there is no risk of being sued for copying that design.
    Now you wait.. and cry about Apple’s plagiarism as a nice free publicity stunt.

  • iFanboy

    “They rip ideas and patents from silicon valley…”

    EVENTUALLY THE COMPETITION TO BE THE WORLD’s “only superpower” {A POST FILLED OF COURSE BY G-D/ALLAH/JEHOVAH} leads to WAR!!!!!!!!!

  • http://www.adamroslan.com Adam

    There are a lot of Apple look-alike products from China. No wonder this P88 also a clone product of Apple’s iPhone.

  • http://identi.ca/ Jan Ulrich Jensen

    Why does it say “Designed by Apple in California” when it is actually “Made in China”?

  • Jamars

    Apple should sue and bankrupt them instead.