Anyone remember Psystar, the Mac clone maker who dared to defy Apple and was ultimately snuffed out as a result? This business with Proview over the Chinese trademark for the iPad name is beginning to feel a little bit like more of the same, with the recently bankrupt display maker squaring off with Apple in court this week.

AppleInsider is reporting on the latest from the Shanghai Pudong New Area People’s Court, where scrappy (yet bankrupt) display maker Proview is taking on The Man -- er, Apple Inc. -- over Chinese trademark rights to the iPad name. With “more than 100 reporters” present for the hearing, the two sides each argued why they should retain the iPad name in China.

"Proview has no product, no markets, no customers and no suppliers. It has nothing," Apple lawyer Hu Jinnan told the court, according to Reuters. "Apple has huge sales in China. Its fans line up to buy Apple products. The ban, if executed, would not only hurt Apple sales but it would also hurt China's national interest."

Despite Apple’s insistence that the iPad trademark was already purchased from Proview back in 2009, the Chinese display maker is trying to assert their rights based on a failed 1999 product released with the same name -- itself a knockoff of the original iMac (as shown above).

Proview also argues that Apple’s purchase of the iPad trademark from a Taiwanese affiliates “was an unauthorized transaction,” while Apple claims the company now “refuses to honor” the existing agreement. In the meantime, potential buyers of the iPad are the only ones truly suffering, as Proview has succeeded in having iPad units confiscated in a few cities throughout the mainland.

On Wednesday, Proview officials indicated they are “open to settle with Apple out of court,” with attorney Roger Xie claiming such a move is “quite possible.”

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

(Image courtesy of The Register)