I'm a journalist, not a legal expert, but I've read that such decisions are difficult to overturn on appeal. Still, if Apple has to bite the bullet on this one and hand over a briefcase full of cash to sell their iconic slate-machine in China, they can afford it. Apparently an eight-figure sum isn't fat enough for Proview. Macworld UK reported that Proview refused the offer, and is asking for at least RMB400 million.

It's a curious case: remember when the still-unveiled device was nameless, and many thought it might be called the iSlate? In December 2011, the Shenzhen Municipal Intermediate People's Court in China ruled that Apple's had signed a contract for iPad trademark rights only through a subsidiary of Proview in Taiwan. Did anyone at Apple perform due diligence on name-trademarks in the PRC?

It's all speculation, but the fact remains that while Apple can sell iPads in Hong Kong (and more than a few of those find their way north of the border), the device's legal status in mainland China remains unclear.

While Proview and Apple haggle, Chinese consumers are denied iPad purchases. This isn't good for business, but lawsuits rarely are. Only the lawyers are happy.

And they've been feasting at the tech-vendor trough lately. Apple is the target of numerous lawsuits, and is filing countersuits.