Apple Secures “iPad” Trademark From Fujitsu After Swift Negotiations

This is how I picture Apple got their hands on the iPad trademark this week from Fujitsu. Steve Jobs skipped and whistled his way into an ominous backroom of Apple’s headquarters that features only one light that swings back and forth while flickering and he then proceeded to break each limb of the companies top executives until they gave in. While that makes me smile, the truth is, he probably skipped in with a big sack of cold hard cash.

Negotiations began after it was discovered that Fujitsu owned the trademark for the “iPad” name, which they purchased in 2003 for a Windows CE point-of-sale device. Faster forward 7 years and Apple named their device the Apple iPad and Fujitsu quickly heard the sound of a cash register flinging open.

In the end the switch over came only several months after Fujitsu cried foul (in January) over the naming convention. Considering that Fujitsu had the upper hand, I’ll assume Apple paid nicely for the trademark transfer.