Chinese Official Says That Apple Does Not Own iPad Trademark in China

According to an official in China, Apple does not have the rights to the iPad trademark in the country.

This was announced Tuesday by Fu Shuangjin, the vice minister of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC). This isn’t good for Apple, who has been fighting in courts with Proview over the rights to the iPad name in mainland China.

However, Proview’s lawyer did say that they are working to negotiate a deal with Apple, likely in the form of a hefty out-of-court settlement, which is said Proview currently needs in order to pay creditors.

What a huge pain this is turning out to be for Apple, eh? We’ll see what happens.

You can read more about Apple’s ongoing court battle with Proview here.

[via Reuters]