Apple pries iPad moniker from Fujitsu

A week and a day before Apple's "magical and revolutionary" iPad is scheduled to be released, Apple has finally acquired the rights to its name.

As The Reg reported, shortly after Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad to the world on January 27, Fujitsu piped up to let Jobs know that he was using someone else's property. "It's our understanding that the name is ours," said Fujitsu PR director Masahiro Yamane.

We can only guess the extent of back-room cajoling, bargaining, arm-twisting and carrot-and-sticking that has gone on since then, but on Friday patentauthority.com reported that Fujitsu has now legally transferred ownership of the iPad trademark to Apple.

No word yet, however, on Apple's negotiations with the makers of all those other iPads in the wild: a credit-card swiper, Korean defibrillator, pre-fab home, proposed residential tower, commercial-kitchen Bump Bar Unit, Internet Personal Access Device, operating system, memo-taking iPhone app, and cleavage-enhancing technology from a Canadian bra company.

Perhaps that latter company might partner with Apple for some speciality items - after all, Cupertino still sells iPod Socks. ®