More cases

However, the trouble for Apple is far from over.

The commercial administrator for Beijing's Xicheng district told China Daily on Monday it has not dropped the idea of fining Apple for using the iPad trademark before legally acquiring it.

"We started to investigate the case last year, and the investigation is not over yet," an official, who only gave his surname as Wang, said.

And on July 10, Apple will face another trademark court case over its operating system Snow Leopard, a name also registered by a Chinese company.

Apple is being sued by Jiangsu Xuebao Daily Chemical Co Ltd for infringing trademark rights, Jiang Wei, the Jiangsu company's attorney, told China Daily on Monday.

"Snow Leopard, an operating system from Apple, was put on sale in August 2009, and it uses the Chinese name 'Xuebao' in many of its publicity and promotional materials," Jiang said.

"However, the Jiangsu company registered the trademark 'Xuebao', including the Chinese characters and pinyin, in the classification of electrical equipment and computer software in 2000, and it's widely used for the company's hardware and software products."

Jiang said Pudong district court in Shanghai had accepted the case, and the hearing is scheduled for July 10, adding they had also charged four other companies which promoted and sold the Apple product.

Contact the writer at wanghuazhong@chinadaily.com.cn

Gao Yuan contributed to this story.