The world’s hottest selling tablet, the Apple iPad might have to be sold under a different name in China. According to reports online, Apple has lost a trademark dispute in China over the iOS tablet’s name and will have to pay up a hefty fine of about $1.5 billion if it wants to continue selling it with the name “iPad”. Apparently Apple had previously purchased the rights to the trademarked name from the company that owned the name “iPad” in China since 2000 – but the Shenzen Municipal Intermediate People’s Court has now been decided that the transfer of trademarks was invalid.
So now it looks like Apple will have to sell the iPad under a different name or pay the massive fine. Selling the tablet under a different name could be bad for the company, but seeing how Apple only has two tablets – the iPad and iPad 2, and the products already have a reputation of being excellent devices – the company shouldn’t suffer too much from this rebranding in China. Then again, Apple might just settle the fine and continue using the same name. If you had to rename the iPad for the Chinese market, what would you call it?
Filed in . Read more about Apple Inc, China, iPad, iPad 2, Legal and Trademark.