Apple and HTC reach agreement
HTC and Apple

Apple and HTC agree on patent dispute, ending several long-going legal battles.

Apple and HTC agreed on a ten-year licensing agreement settling all the lawsuits between the two companies globally. The two firms revealed that the deal covers current and future patents for both manufacturers.

Peter Chou, HTC’s chief executive, commented in a statement: “HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook added: “We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC. We will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation.”

Both Apple and HTC declined to comment on further details about the agreement.

The patent deal comes after the Taiwanese mobile casino device manufacturer lost several legal battles.

US International Trade Commission stated earlier that Apple’s iPhone and iPad mobile casino devices had not infringed any HTC patents. However, the ITC found in a separate case that some HTC phones actually infringed certain Apple patents.

HTC put a lot of time, effort and money into litigation. They bought S3 Graphics for $300 million in cash, with the possible intention of using S3 patents in court cases against Apple’s iPhone gaming products, without much success.

Industry experts don’t think that Apple’s agreement with HTC implies that the Cupertino company is going to look for a similar settlement with Samsung. Recently, Apple won a court case and was awarded $1 billion in damages in the USA against Samsung, claiming they copied their products. Samsung is set to appeal the decision.