Proview International Holdings Ltd., which claims ownership of the iPad trademark in China, asked retailers to stop selling Apple Inc.'s tablet computer as the dispute between the two companies intensified.

Some retailers halted iPad sales after Proview submitted complaints, Roger Xie, a lawyer representing Hong Kong-traded Proview, said by phone today while declining to identify them.

Separately, Internet shopping sites including Amazon.com Inc.'s Amazon.cn and 360Buy.com no longer displayed iPads or quoted prices for the product.

Proview, a maker of computer displays, said this week it asked China's customs bureau to block imports and exports of the iPad after winning a local court decision against Cupertino, California-based Apple over the trademark. Apple quadrupled revenue in China last year after adding stores and expanding online distribution of its products.

Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based spokeswoman at Apple, declined to comment beyond a statement earlier this week that Apple acquired Proview's rights to the iPad trademark in 10 countries, including China.

June Jin, a Beijing-based spokeswoman at Amazon, said the unavailability of iPads on the company's website isn't related to the trademark dispute. She didn't elaborate. Calls to the general lines of 360Buy.com in Beijing weren't answered.

Eoin Treacy's view On initial inspection, this appears to be a nuisance suit designed to extract as many concessions from Apple as possible, just as Chinese sales of the iPad ramp up. For a high profile company like Apple, efforts such as this come with the territory of being the producer of some of the world's most desired consumer products. However, if it succeeds in delaying sales growth, that could have an impact of the share price.

Apple represented one of most consistent chart patterns of any instrument until it began to accelerate higher and is therefore an excellent teaching example. From its lows in 2009, it was one of the first shares to exceed its previous all-time high. From late 2009, it plotted a series of congestion area trading ranges, mostly one above another. Each of these consolidations has been resolved with an impressive upward break. Prices then tend to become somewhat overextended relative to the 200-day MA and enter the next ranging consolidation; holding the majority of the prior advance in the process. Throughout the last three years, the 200-day MA has offered support on reactions and has represented a favourable entry point for those seeking to initiate or increase positions.

The acceleration posted between late December and yesterday saw prices rally more than $125 in a little over six weeks. At The Chart Seminar we describe acceleration as a trending end of undermined duration. Yesterday's downward dynamic and downside follow through today suggest a peak of at least near-term significance. If the previous pattern of consolidations is to be repeated, the share will need to hold the majority of its advance during this reaction, allowing the MA to catch up. If it falls quickly back toward the MA, that will represent an additional trend inconsistency.