iSmashPhone reported that Apple is facing a potential 240 million yuan ($38 million) fine from governmental authorities over alleged trademark infringement involving the “iPad” name.

According to Shenzhen-based Proview Technology, it is over an intellectual property rights violation. Proview Technology claims the rights to the name iPad, as does Apple. The case was filed in 2011, and is now pending hearing by the Pudong district court in Shanghai later this month.

Macrumors wrote that “Proview already accused Apple of trademark infringement back in 2010, claiming that it had owned the mark in China since 2000 and seeking a settlement from Apple in the range of $800 million. Apple fired back with its own lawsuit claiming that it did own the “iPad” rights in China after having purchased European rights from Proviews parent company for just $55,000.”

With Proview having filed a 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) suit against Apple in the meantime, Apple lost its suit when a court ruled that the Chinese rights had not been included in the purchase because the parent company did not hold the authority to sell them.

Source [macrumors]