The California based Apple Inc and Taiwanese HTC have reaches a global settlement this weekend dismissing all the patent lawsuits between them. In addition they have even signed a license agreement for a decade which extends to the present and future patents held by both the companies. The terms of the agreement were confidential, but a popular magazine has published that HTC has agreed to pay Apple $5 to $8 for every handset sold.
Digging into the details of the lawsuit, it was Apple who began the lawsuit. This fruit company has no history of backing down from patent suits. In 2010 Apple sued HTC accusing it for infringing its patent technology. It was the first big lawsuit Apple has filed against a tech company that used Android OS. Since this lawsuit Apple had engulfed other competitors’ like Samsung, Motorola etc. Over the years, it has won some patents and lost some. Apple won $1 billion ruling against Samsung, while lawsuit against Motorola did not produce any victories.
However Apple had most successful wins against HTC in patent lawsuits. In 2011 the USITC passed a ruling that HTC had infringed upon 4 of Apple’s patents and therefore laid a ban of sales on some HTC handsets. HTC has been badly hit with competition by Samsung and Apple in the last month leading to a fall in 14.5% fall in its revenue in Q4. It was the second quarterly decline in this year for HTC.
All this trouble for the Taiwan Company came to an end as it has signed a license agreement with Apple for a period of ten years. The details of the deal were not disclosed but it is safe to say that HTC will be paying plenty of money to Apple. Forbes magazine suggested that HTC is to pay $6 to $8 to Apple for every handset equipped with Android to be sold.
In response to the settlement Apple chief Tim cook said that he was glad to have reached a settlement with the company and will stay focused on product innovation. Peter Chou, CEO of HTC said that he was pleased to resolve the dispute and will focus on innovation rather than an litigation.
Though we do not know how much Apple has received in compensation for sure but one thing is known for sure that Apple has shred the weight of one patent lawsuit off its shoulder.
