Several months after the launch of its third-generation iPad, Apple has reportedly secured the rights to iPad3.com ... sort of.

A law firm that has worked with Apple in the past gained the rights to the URL iPad3.com this week, according to a report from Fusible.com.

The transfer of iPad3.com from Global Access to Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton follows a late June complaint filed with the with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The iPad3.com URL currently turns up an error. A cached version of the site displayed a placeholder site.

Apple has dubbed its most recent iPad the "new iPad" rather than iPad 3. Fusible speculated, however, that many Web users were likely typing in ipad3.com in search of the updated tablet only to find a link-ridden website, and Apple wanted to stop that. Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton will likely transfer control of iPad3.com to Apple in the near future, the blog said.

The website for "newipad.com" currently links to a GoDaddy placeholder.

The news comes shortly after Apple gained control over iPhone5.com.

Last year, Apple successfully obtained the apple-downloads.com and apple-oem.com domain names. It also won the rights to appleoslion.com, appleosxlion.com, macoslion.com, macosxleo.com, macosxleon.com, and macosxlion.com. In 2010, it was awarded appl.com and aplle.com.

Also today, various news outlets are reporting that Apple is now in the midst of prepping a smaller tablet, known as the iPad mini. The ipadmini.com website currently includes a contact form for a company known as Dotlia.

Published under license from Ziff Davis, Inc., New York, All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2012-2013 Ziff Davis, Inc