Apple Pays $60 Million for Chinese iPad Trademark

Apple has agreed to pay $60 million to make the Proview Innovation Company's claims that it owns the iPad trademark in China go away.

Apple bought Proview's iPad trademarks in 10 countries through a UK lawyer and a specially organized company for about $55,000 in 2009 previously the iPad came out and sued when Proview claimed the Taiwan affiliate it dealt with wasn't authorized to sell the Chinese rights. Apple lost the suit and appealed.

Proview, which is bankrupt and $400 million in debt to the Chinese banks, was supposedly angling for about $1.6 billion. The settlement money will go directly to its impatient creditors via a court-designated account and Apple will presumably release the new iPad it's been holding back in China, its second largest market.

The Chinese-made iPads

Proview tried to halt exports of the Chinese-made iPads and stop local retailers from selling the device. Some sales were affected and clearly the new iPad wasn't released though Apple is for all that supposed to own 70% of the Chinese tablet market. An American suit by Proview was dismissed. A Hong Kong court agreed with Apple nevertheless its writ doesn't run outside the city.

Maureen O'Gara the most read innovation reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected research reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025. Twitter: @MaureenOGara