Proview, which won a court ruling that it owns the iPad name in China, has said that it will ask customs officials to ban import and export of Apple's iPads.

"We are now working on a request to China Customs to ban and seize all the import and export of the iPad products that have violated the trademark," Xie Xianghui, a Proview lawyer, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. But he has not indicated when the request will be lodged.

All of Apple's iPads are manufactured in China, and hence global sales of the popular tablet computers might be affected if authorities decide to grant the request of Proview International Holdings Ltd.

Meanwhile, Apple, based in Cupertino, California, defended its ownership of the iPad name. "We bought Proview's worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago. Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple in China," said Carolyn Wu, Apple spokeswoman in Beijing.

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In 2001, Shenzhen Proview Technology had registered the iPad trademark in China. Apple bought rights to the name from a Taiwan company affiliated with Proview but the mainland company says it still owns the name in China.

Last year, a Chinese court rejected Apple's claim to the name in China. "Our case is still pending in mainland China," Wu said.