Yang Long-san, Apple's nemesis in a battle over the iPad trademark in China, once strutted the expo halls with dreams of market dominance. His company, Proview, may now be in ruins and his most valuable asset a disputed trademark, but those dreams remain intact.

"My biggest wish is to resolve all these frustrating problems and put them behind me," Yang said in a recent telephone interview. "If we can resolve all the problems we have now and I have a chance to make a comeback, I'd still want to overtake my old competitors."

Much of that will depend on whether he wins a long-running dispute over ownership of the trademark in China - Apple's second-biggest market by revenue. Although a recent decision by the Shanghai district court to reject Proview's demands that Apple stop selling the iPad was a setback for Proview, the case is still to be heard in the higher court in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong Wednesday.

A decision against Apple there would set a precedent that would create an uphill battle in other cases in lower courts around China. Local media have said Proview is seeking up to 10 billion yuan (S$2 billion) in compensation.

Proview's fortunes may currently be the polar opposite of Apple - one has creditors at the door and the other is the world's most valuable listed company - but both illustrate how the fickle world of technology can make or break a company.

Yang and Proview rode the first wave, when every home and office desk had to have a computer, and a screen. For Apple, the last decade has seen it ride the crest of a new wave where the computer moved from a commoditized, clunky desktop to a fashionable mobile consumer device.

Proview may now be a shadow of a company, trying to convert its last major asset into cash, but it was not always so. "They definitely existed," says IDC analyst Rhoda Alexander, who covered them for a while. "They were a significant manufacturer and a major player."