Following a legal agreement between Apple and Chinese manufacturing company Proview, Apple has reportedly paid $60 million for the iPad trademark. The Associated Press reports that the dispute between the two companies is over, following initial hopes by Proview that Apple would pay them up to $400 million.
Proview is a manufacturer of monitors and LCD screens in China, and registered the iPad trademark in 2001. Apple tried to purchase the rights to the iPad trademark from a Proview affiliate in Taiwan for $55,000 but a court ruling in December said that Proview was not bound by that sale. According to a lawyer for the company, Proview itself had apparently felt pressure to settle for the $60 million in this case because debts needed to be paid.
The settlement means that the trademark dispute over the iPad name in China is now over and opens the door for the release of the new iPad in China, the second largest market share for Apple after the United States.
Settled…