Since its inception two years ago, Apple Inc, finally owns the name ‘iPad’. Apple paid $60 million to a Taiwanese company for the right to use the name in its products in a country that is dubbed to become one of the huge electronics market, according to a Chinese court.
In 2001, a company named Shenzhen Proview Technology has trademarked the ‘iPad’ name. At first Apple paid $55,000 to Proview in 2009. But authorities in China refused to acknowledge the payment and ruled that Proview still owns the rights to the name ‘iPad’ in the country last year.
New York Times acquired a statement noting the Guangdong High People’s Court saying that the iPad dispute is finally ended. Apple transferred around $60 million to the Guangdong Court’s account as disclosed in the mediation letter. Proview’s lawyers hoped for at least $400 million but finally settled for $60 million as the company has some debt obligations, New York Times reported.
Apple did not return a message on the matter for comments immediately on June 2, Monday.
However, this will not slow down demand for the iPad and other Apple products for the tech-savvy Chinese population. Last year, when the iPad was launched in China chaos broke up when a person tried to cut between lines in front of a Apple Store in Beijing. Entrepreneurs selling Apple products don’t even bother to check whether they are original or counterfeits. Authorities discovered 22 fake Apple store in just one city and closed them last year too.
