Apple Settles Chinese 'iPad' Trademark Dispute with Proview for $60 Million

Associated Press reports that Apple and Chinese company Proview Technology have reached a settlement deal that involves Apple paying $60 million for the rights to the "iPad" trademark in China.

"The iPad dispute resolution is ended," the Guangdong High People's Court said in a statement. "Apple Inc. has transferred $60 million to the account of the Guangdong High Court as requested in the mediation letter."

Proview began publicly objecting to Apple's use of the iPad name in late 2010, with the situation eventually escalating to see Proview demanding bans on iPad sales in the country and up to $2 billion in compensation.

Settlement talks initiated earlier this year reportedly saw Apple offering $16 million to settle the case, but Proview was apparently holding out for a $400 million settlement that could save the company as it seeks to reorganize under bankruptcy.

Apple argued in several court cases that it had acquired the Chinese rights to the iPad name in late 2009 as part of a deal with Proview's Taiwanese arm. That deal, brokered by Apple dummy corporation IP Application Development, reportedly saw the rights to the name transferred in a number of markets around the globe for just $55,000. Proview later claimed that the Chinese rights to the trademark were owned by its Chinese subsidiary and that the Taiwanese arm consequently could not have sold them to Apple.