HP TouchPad Trademark Battle - In China? 20

We know that HP will be selling webOS devices at some point in Europe, Middle East, Africa, and of course North America, but when were they planning on expanding their market to include the most densely populated (and technologically hungry) regions in the world? According to People Daily Online (based in China), HP recently held a press-conference where they announced that the TouchPad would be made available to the public later this year. There's just one problem with this announcement, though - China already given another company sole-ownership of the TouchPad trademark in until the year 2021. Yikes!

Hanvon Technology, the largest e-book reader brand in China, had already applied and was approved to use the TouchPad trademark for the next decade, on April 27th of this year (just a little over a month after HP announced they would be shipping the TouchPad in China). Hopefully this won't cause problems for our webOS partners in the country, though, as HP is already working on getting an alternative trademark, HP TouchPad and TouchPad HP, to be approved as soon as possible. There was also an unknown company, probably HP, that raised a dispute about Hanvon getting the TouchPad trademark on March 31st and May 3rd, but nothing new came of either of those cases.

All-in-all it looks like HP will find an alternative solution that works, even though this could prove to be a major thorn in the side of the TouchPad brand. Of course, it's entirely possible, although unlikely, that Hanvon could just stick with their Android-based HPad (what a name...) and drop the Windows-powered TouchPad altogether, but we can never be sure with these things. Of course, HP could raise a similar trademark-rockus in other parts of the world as well - the Hanvon TouchPad is being sold in the US already.

We'll keep you updated as we find out more, though we're certain there won't be too much else to say if HP just settles for their alternative brand in China (and elsewhere, if it happens again).