Apple and Samsung ended their 7-year patents dispute. The terms of the deal have not been announced.
The dispute is related with Apple’s accusation that Samsung violatedg its patents by copying the iPhone design.
In May, a US court awarded Apple with 539 million USD after Samsung previously paid 399 million USD to compensate for the patent infringement. Samsung will have to make an additional payment to Apple of nearly 140 million USD if the court decision is confirmed.
s not clear how much Samsung will have to pay under the current agreement.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the terms of the deal, but said that his company “took great care of its design” and “this case has always been more than just money”.
Samsung’s spokesperson also refused to comment.
Apple and Samsung are competitors in the smartphone market, and the amounts involved in the solution are unlikely to have a huge impact on them. But the case has a lasting impact on US patent law.
After losing the lawsuit, Samsung appeals to the US Supreme Court. In December 2016, the court ruled unanimously that the patent offender should not pass on all the profits from the stolen design if they only cover certain parts of the product but not the whole object.
But when the case was returned to a lower court this year, the jury reconfirmed Apple’s argument that in this particular case, Samsung’s profit was due to design elements that violated Apple’s patents.
