(Reuters) - A Chinese tech firm claiming to own the "iPad" trademark plans to seek a ban on shipments of Apple Inc's computer tablets into and out of China, a lawyer for the company, Proview Technology (Shenzhen), said on Tuesday.

The company triumphed over Apple in a lawsuit in southern China late last year and is looking to enforce the court ruling.

Proview is petitioning Chinese customs to stop shipments of Apple iPads, lawyer Xie Xianghui told Asian Legal Business, a Thomson Reuters publication.

Proview's latest salvo comes a day after media reports that authorities in some Chinese cities had ordered retailers to stop selling Apple's iPad due to the dispute.

Apple said it had bought the worldwide rights to the trademark long ago.

"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 and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter," an Apple spokeswoman said.