Pays $60m to Chinese firm. Now free to develop the world's largest territory.
Apple has ended its trademark dispute with Proview Technology (Shenzhen), paying the Chinese firm $60m for the iPad trademark.
The lawsuit had caused a delay to the launch of the latest iPad and damaged sales in some Chinese provinces.
Proview Technology was also seeking an export ban on all iPads manufactured in China – a move that would have severely diminished Apple's global sales.
It began when Apple bought ownership of the iPad trademark from Proview in 2009.
However, the Chinese company argued the US firm dealt with only one unit of Proview and did not include the Chinese mainland and a Chinese court ruled that Proview Technology (Shenzhen) owned the name in China.