Apple has agreed to pay $60 million dollars to Proview Technology, the Chinese company with which they've had a longstanding dispute over the iPad trademark, ending litigate before the Guangdong High People's Court court.
Apple has maintained they bought all legal rights to the iPad name in a previous, global transaction back in 2009, but the Proview disagreed, saying the Chinese rights were never transferred. Back in December, the Chinese court sided with Proview on that point.
Proview initially sought $2 billion in damages.
Proview hoped for more money but felt pressure to settle because it needs to pay debts, said a lawyer for the company, Xie Xianghui. He said the company had hoped for as much as $400 million and might still be declared bankrupt in a separate legal proceeding despite the infusion of settlement money."This is a result that is acceptable to both sides," Xie said.
This is still probably $60 million more than Apple wanted to pay, but it will grant them unobstructed entry to the Chinese market. Apple's second largest after the US.
Source: Associated Press
