Japanese company claims 'iPad' name

Apple may face a trademark dispute over a hand-held device first launched in 2002

Japan's Fujitsu says it made first 'iPad' - Jan 30, 2010 -

TOKYO (AFP) Apple's new tablet PC is not the first product to be called the "iPad". Japan's Fujitsu says it launched one years ago, and the name has also been used for small engines and even bra inserts.

Amid the hype about Apple's latest offering, the device has been hailed as an "iPhone on steroids" and a "Kindle killer" that will upstage electronic book readers, but also mocked on chatrooms for evoking a feminine hygiene product.

Now it looks like Apple could have a trademark dispute on its hands.

Fujitsu Ltd. said its US subsidiary in 2002 launched the "iPad", a sleek handheld multimedia device with a 3.5-inch screen, used by retail store clerks to keep inventory data, scan barcodes and manage business operations.

Fujitsu's device has an Intel processor and a Microsoft operating system and supports both Wi-fi and Bluetooth connections.

In 2003, Fujitsu's US arm made a trademark application for the "iPad" name with the US Patent and Trademark Office, which is still pending and not yet registered, said Fujitsu spokesman Masao Sakamoto in Tokyo.

He said Fujitsu was yet to decide on how it may react to the launch of Apple's tablet computer, saying: "As we are now sorting out the facts, we have not decided on what action we may take."

A possible feud between Apple and Fujitsu has sparked debate on Japanese chatrooms, with one observer proposing: "Let's apply for as many 'i' such-and-such names as possible! We'll make money in the future!!"

Apple has been embroiled in trademark disputes with other companies before, including Cisco Systems, which launched its "iPhone" before Apple. The two companies settled the dispute in 2007, agreeing to share the name.

Professor Teruyuki Inoue, an IT sector expert at Daito Bunka University, said the "iPad" issue is unlikely to turn into a full-blown legal battle.

"They will probably have talks to settle this, given that the customers for their products do not overlap, and for the sake of their business ties in the future," Inoue told AFP by telephone.

He said he was not surprised the two companies had doubled up on the name, saying: "Everybody can think of an easy name like 'iPad.' It's not creative."

Indeed several other companies worldwide have had the same idea.

Germany's Siemens uses the trademark "iPad" for small engines and motors.

The Swiss-based microchip maker STMicroelectronics has reportedly also registered "IPAD", short for "Integrated Passive and Active Devices."

In Canada, the Ontario-based company Coconut Grove Pads Inc. has since 2007 made a line of bra inserts and shoulder pads called the "iPad", according to an online report by the Globe and Mail daily.

A Japanese company that makes a product of the same name -- pronounced "ai pad" when transcribed from the Japanese -- is Awaji-Tec, a manufacturer of adult nappies with a high-tech twist.

The company says its nappies feature an electronic device that can send a signal to a remote caregiver when it needs to be changed.

"We have been selling this elderly care product for the past five years, said Yasuaki Mori, who works at Awaji-Tec's special sensors division. "It would be regrettable if people thought we had copied the name."

Meanwhile in China, a company has used a different name -- the "P88" -- for an iPad look-alike, with a slightly larger screen, faster processor and larger memory but battery life of only 1.5 hours compared to the iPad's 10 hours.

It marks a new milestone by Chinese manufacturers -- cloning a product before it had even been announced -- mused Shanghaiist.com, a Shanghai city blog, and Shanzhai.com, a tech blog dedicated to Chinese copies.

But the makers of the P88, Shenzhen Great Loong Brother Industrial Co., said Apple appeared to be the copycats.

"We don't understand. Why did they make the same thing as us?" Huang Xiaofang, an executive at the company, told AFP. "We launched it earlier."

Category:

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[zzzfffccc]

Fujitsu should dispute this with Apple, too.

[escaladelife2009]

I hate apple company it's is full of bullshit in USA as I live in USA and I have bought 3 google androids 10 inch screen 2.1 and live live it much bigger than apple I pad .. With apple u have to pay for music videos and books and music and with android tablet 2.1 10 inch screen u get to use free music videos and music very easy to download music free from android and u can use 32 gb with micro ds card..

[classicleon]

@zushizushizushizushi Copied the idea. This is what they shouldn't do. But they did.

[zushizushizushizushi]

@classicleon sorry, what technology did they really copy? Stop posting your false claims on youtube.

[AGeekForever]

@AGeekForever Um, Fujitsu owned the trademark.

And please know what you are talking about. Seriously, the P88 is like 2 inches thick. And even so, THEY copied it off the iPhone design.

[classicleon]

@AGeekForever the spec refers to the nonfunctional requirement. Funcitonal requirement was copied...indeed.

[classicleon]

@AGeekForever LOL. do me a favor to get some education. Listing the spec doesn't mean anything to me. because I can find trillions on the internet. Ipad casing looked like P88. No one was talking about spec.

[AGeekForever]

lol, Do me a favor and go learn something! The P88 is a good computer besides the terrible battery life, but is in NO way 'technologically' similar to the iPad. Besides the casing (Which looked like the iPhones in the first place) there is nothing similar. The iPad has an A4 1ghz Processor vs the P88 tablets Intel Atom N270 1.6ghz. P88 has webcam, iPad doesn't. iPad uses a Flash Hard Drive, when the P88 uses a regular HDD. (Up to 320gb) BOTH HAVE DIFFERENT USES BUT ARE TECHNOLOGICALLY DIFFERENT!

[classicleon]

iPad actually copied technology of Chinese P88 tablet. And it just copied a Japanese trademark.

[Martynas94]

not fake...