Libor Kubín According to the Associated Press, Apple and Chinese company ProView Technology have reached a final agreement over the use of the iPad trademark after several months. The compensation in the amount of 60 million dollars was transferred to the account of the Chinese court.
The company ProView Technology started using the name iPad in 2000. At that time, it produced computers that looked like the first generation of iMacs.
In 2009, Apple managed to acquire the rights to the iPad trademark in a number of countries through the fictitious company IP Application Development for just $55. The rights were sold to it (paradoxically) by Pro View's Taiwanese mother - International Holdings. But the court declared the purchase invalid. The controversy escalated to such an extent that it was even banned from selling the iPad in China.
The ProView Technology lawsuit has several interesting points. The Chinese company claims that Apple, or a product with the same brand, is to blame for its failure in the local market. At the same time, iPad brand computers have been produced since 2000, and the Cupertino company entered the Chinese market with its tablet only in 2010. Furthermore, ProView Technology claimed that it owned the Chinese rights to the trademark, so the Taiwanese could not sell them to Apple.
Already at the beginning of the court case (in December 2011), the company's legal representative stated to Apple: "They sold their products in violation of the law. The more products they sold, the more compensation they had to pay.” Apple initially offered $16 million. But ProView demanded $400 million. The company is insolvent and owes 180 million dollars.
Well, it won't help them anyway, they need 3x as much :D and now, if I were Apple, I would trick the Chinese into a 20% higher price of iPads.