The battle that has raged for months over the rights to the iPad name in China has finally come to an end. Apple has settled the dispute with China's Proview Technology for $60 million.
The news was announced on Monday, China time, on the website for the Higher People's Court of Guangdong Province.
"All parties involved have agreed on the settlement. Proview and Apple now no longer have a dispute over the iPad trademark." Although the news just broke, the settlement was apparently agreed to nearly a week ago on June 25," Xie Xianghui, a lawyer for Proview, told China's Xinhua news.
Proview's claim to the iPad name in China first made headlines last year when Proview petitioned to ban the sale of the iPad in China until its lawsuit had been resolved or a settlement reached. Apple's initial response was to cite its supposed purchase of the iPad name from Proview's Taiwan unit for $55,000 back in 2009. Proview's response was to claim that the sale had been executed by a subsidiary party not empowered to grant mainland China rights to the name. The Chinese courts initially sided with Proview, recognizing the company's 2001 trademark on the name and setting the stage for rounds of legal appeals from Apple.
In the interim, some Chinese retailers removed the iPad from shelves, sending the grey market into a frenzy as Chinese shoppers in some cities explored alternative means to acquire the popular device. Nevertheless, when we contacted Apple's flagship store in Beijing earlier this year, the manager confirmed that the iPad remained on sale in the store and online.
Although the settlement will put a dent into Apple's China iPad sales, all things considered, the settlement looks to be something of a win for the company. The $60 million settlement is about $1.5 billion less than the amount Proview had publicly announced it was seeking from the Apple.
China currently accounts for about 20 percent of Apple's overall revenue, making it second only to the U.S. in terms of sales. Given those factors, this settlement may come to represent a minor wrinkle in Apple's overall roadmap as it prepares to roll out the new iPad in China later this year.
Source:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406585,00.asp
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