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Sandy Li

United States-based Sun Microsystems has sent a legal letter to Sunevision Holdings, claiming the Hong Kong company's name and logo and those of its wholly owned subsidiary Sun Technology are an infringement of its trademark.

 However, Sunevision, which was formed in January, last night issued a statement in which it said the word Sun in its name and that of its subsidiary were references to the name of its parent, Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP).

 The company also pointed out Sun Technology was set up in 1992 as Sun Satellite Television Services. The company assumed its present name in March last year.

 The issue was unveiled in Sunevision's Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) listing prospectus released yesterday.

 In the prospectus, Sunevision, SHKP's Internet arm, said it had received a letter on March 1 from Sun Microsystems' solicitor.

 Analysts said the word Sun in SHKP originated from the character in the group's Chinese name, based on Cantonese pronunciation.

 The Chinese character means new.

 Sunevision said it did not believe there was any basis for Sun Microsystems' concerns of confusion in names, given SHKP's reputation and goodwill as well as widespread publicity surrounding the launch of Sunevision.

 'Our lawyers [yesterday] have made a substantive response in writing on behalf of Sunevision and Sun Technology to Sun Microsystems' lawyers about their client's concerns,' the company said.

 Sunevision also said it would defend any legal action taken by Sun Microsystems.

 'We are confident of success in defending such actions, according to legal advice,' it said.

 Sun Microsystems officials were unavailable for comment.

 Analysts said such disputes were common among companies.

 However, they said the 'unfriendly' gesture by Sun Microsystems could jeopardise any future partnerships with SHKP.

 Last November, the companies formed a partnership to launch SuperHome.net, a portal that would offer information and e-commerce options to residents of the developer's flats.

 A month later, Sunevision subsidiary iAdvantage teamed with Sun Microsystems to set up Web pages and offer technical support to e-commerce start-ups.

 Sunevision expects to raise up to $3.11 billion through its GEM listing.

 The company will issue 300 million shares at a price of between $8.38 and $10.38 each.



Sunevision tackled on name and logo