After negotiating with Fujitsu, Apple owns the trademark on the name for the iPad in time for its touchscreen tablet to go on sale next week in the US.
The PatentAuthority blog tracked down the US Patent and Trademark Office document on Friday that shows Fujitsu turned the iPad trademark over to Apple officially on 17 March. Fujitsu had owned the trademark since 2003. Apple has delayed the launch of the iPad in the UK until the end of April.
This is not the first time Apple has had to do some legal manoeuvring to get its hands on the trademark for a name it wanted to use. It came out before the introduction of the original iPhone that Cisco owned the trademark on it. When Apple announced the iPhone in early 2007, Cisco waited a week before suing.
For more on this story, see Apple snags iPad trademark from Fujitsu on CNET News.
