By paying only USD60 million, Apple appears to have gained the upper hand in a trademark dispute against a Chinese technology company.

According to the Guangdong High People's Court, Apple has just placed the USD60 million a court escrow account to be transferred to Shenzhen Proview Technology, which owned the rights to the iPad trademark in China. Apple and Proview apparently settled their dispute via mediation.

Apple originally said it purchased the worldwide rights for the iPad name from Proview's subsidiary in Taiwan in 2009, but the Chinese courts said the transfer was never actually made. Apple then faced a seizure of all its iPads in China late last year after the court ruled Proview still owned the trademark for iPad.

With this new announcement, Apple appears to have paid a relatively small amount of money in exchange for gaining full and unfettered access in the China market for selling its iPad.