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SAMSUNG AND APPLE have agreed to end all patent lawsuits between each other outside the US in a step back from three years of legal hostilities between the world’s two largest smartphone makers.
However, Samsung said Wednesday that it and Apple will continue to pursue existing cases in US courts. The two companies did not strike any cross-licensing deal.
“Samsung and Apple have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States,” the South Korean company said in a statement. “This agreement does not involve any licensing arrangements, and the companies are continuing to pursue the existing cases in US courts.”
The announcement is a significant lessening of corporate hostilities after years of bitter patent disputes over the intellectual property rights for mobile designs and technology. The legal fights spanned about a dozen countries in Asia, North America and Europe.
Lawsuits and other legal actions by Samsung and Apple will come to an end in countries including Germany, England, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, Japan and Australia.
The patent cases in the US have come with bigger awards for damages than other countries. In May, a California jury awarded Apple $119 million (€89 million) in a patent battle with Samsung.
The same jury also ordered Apple to pay $158,400 to Samsung finding that Apple had infringed one of Samsung’s patents in creating the iPhone 4 and 5. In a separate 2012 jury verdict, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $930 million (€696 million). Samsung appealed.
Some analysts said the two companies would eventually bury the hatchet and sign a cross-licensing deal, following the usual pattern of patent cases in the technology industry. There were earlier signs that tensions had eased between two companies. The two agreed to drop their appeals at the US International Trade Commission in June.
But at other times, it seemed the differences were too wide to be bridged. The chief executives of both companies reportedly met several times at the recommendation of a US judge to discuss out of court settlements.
Not all outcomes from the patent actions were damaging to Samsung and Apple. While the two rivals faced damage claims and sales bans of old products here and there, Samsung vaulted to the leading position in the global smartphone market during the last three years.
The series of high-stake lawsuits over some of the world’s most popular gadgets began in April, 2011 when Apple accused Samsung, the maker of Galaxy phones, of slavishly copying the iPhone. Samsung responded by charging Apple of stealing its mobile technology.
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Americans must be pretty stupid if Apple thinks people will confuse a Samsung phone with an iPhone…The screens on the Samsung notes are massive…. All the igeeks would wet themselves if an iphone with a similar size screen became a reality…
If Americans are stupid, imagine how stupid Irish people must be
It will become a reality, there will (supposedly) be two different models, one with 4.7″ screen in September/October, and another 5.5″ screen later on in the year. The larger one obviously won’t be Apple copying the phablet class of device, as created by Samsung.
Americans believe in everything that they see on their television set.
I’m sorry but that comment was moronic. Do you think patent laws come down to what un-technical people might see in front of them that looks like something else??
The court cases in the US relate to much earlier model phones not the current crop.
Yes, these cases do drag on. It makes zero difference to the unethicality (I just made up a word!) of Samsung.
An iPhone with a bigger screen lol. For years I’ve heard people say the screens on the Galaxy’s were too big and Apple had it just right. What will these numpties say when a big screen iPhone comes out? No doubt it will be something like Apple are innovative.
“For years I’ve heard people say the screens on the Galaxy’s were too big and Apple had it just right.What will these numpties say when a big screen iPhone comes out? No doubt it will be something like Apple are innovative.”
I will be a direct quote of something Tim Cook says at the launch, a soundbite, something like “it’s the sweet spot of large screen formats” – the way they currently do with this whole “it just works” mantra.
It’s not the size that counts its How you use it
Your wife is so sweet to you!
Say your boyfriend loves u
Oh, how droll
Both these companies should be concerned about China’s up and coming smart phones.
Apple are not concerned. They still sell more than enough at their desired price and are not interested in the cheap end of the market, why should you when your profit fir the last quarter was around 9 billion on a turnover of 37 billion. 37% profit approx. Worry, Apple lol
Samsung are some dirty operators. I’ll never buy one of their products again.
…the forbidden fruit logo says enough about Apple.
Not really. Have a read of Samsung’s background. They’ve been up to dirty tricks – massive world-wide price fixing (it’s down to Samsung that we pay so much for technology because they fixed with the competition to keep production down and prices up) – they’ve been fined numerous times for this, they’ve paid out billions in fines over the years. Bribery on a massive scale. Wholesale stealing of patents. It’s the way they do business: steal the patent’s technology, put out a product, get sued, counter-sue, thus tying everyone up in litigation for years, then settle out of court. They put Kodak out of business basically by stealing their technology. Not just Kodak, lots of companies and thousands of people are out of work because of the way Samsung does business.
http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2014/06/apple-samsung-smartphone-patent-war
Read this for background – it explains very well the kind of tricks Samsung get up to that end up with us all paying more than we should.
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