iPhone Developers

A man holds an an Apple Inc’s iPad in this photo illustration March 3, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A California judge tossed out a lawsuit in which the Chinese firm Proview Electronics Co Ltd accused Apple Inc of tricking them into selling the “iPad” name for less than it might have.

Proview, which is also suing Apple in China over alleged illegal use of the iPad name, filed a lawsuit in California superior court in February, saying the U.S. consumer electronics company deceived it by purchasing the rights to the name through a special-purpose vehicle.

Last week, judge Mark Pierce dismissed the case, agreeing with Apple’s argument that the two parties had agreed to settle any disagreements in Hong Kong.

Apple says it bought ownership of the trademark in various countries from Proview, once a global monitor maker, but the Chinese company argues that the U.S. firm dealt with only one unit of Proview and it retains rights to the iPad name in China.

An Apple spokeswoman reiterated the company’s previous statement that Proview is “unfairly trying to get more from Apple for a trademark we already paid for.”

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta and Edwin Chan; Editing by Gary Hill)