Techie titans call truce, now frenemies
SAN FRANCISCO—The technology titans behind the top two smartphone platforms in the world called a truce on Friday in a long-running patent war, ending one of the highest profile lawsuits in technology.
“Apple and Google have agreed to dismiss all the current lawsuits that exist directly between the two companies,” the companies said in a joint statement.
“Apple and Google have also agreed to work together in some areas of patent reform,” they said.
The companies made it clear that the detente does not include licensing their technology to each other.
California-based Apple has been battling smartphone competitors in courts around the world, accusing rivals using Google’s Android software of copying features from its popular mobile devices.
Apple and companies that make phones using Google’s Android software have filed dozens of lawsuits against each other around the world to protect their technology.
Patent infringement
The most high-profile case between Apple and Motorola began in 2010, when Motorola filed a patent lawsuit against Apple in US federal court, prompting the iPhone maker to fire back with a patent suit of its own. Motorola accused Apple of infringing several patents, including one essential to how cell phones operate on a 3G network, while Apple said Motorola violated its patents to certain smartphone features.
Litigation has spread to more than a dozen other courts. The cases were consolidated in a Chicago federal court. However, Judge Richard Posner dismissed it in 2012 shortly before trial, saying neither company had sufficient evidence to prove its case.
Last month, the appeals court gave the iPhone manufacturer another chance to win a sales ban against its competitor.
Google took on the legal wrangling when it bought Motorola Mobility in 2012 for $12.5 billion in what was seen at the time as a move to use its patents for defending Android operating software in the increasingly litigious smartphone and tablet markets.
Early this year, Google agreed to sell Motorola Mobility’s handset business to China-based computer giant Lenovo, while keeping the vast majority of the patents. The sale has yet to be completed.
Samsung cases
The legal truce between Apple and Google does not take the pressure off South Korea-based Samsung, which has been a prime legal target for the maker of iPhones and iPads.
A Japanese court ruled earlier that Samsung could seek minimal damages from Apple for patent infringement, with both sides claiming victory in their latest legal skirmish over the design of their smartphones.
Japan’s Intellectual Property High Court ruled that Samsung could claim 9.96 million yen ($98,000) from its US archrival for use of Samsung’s data transmission technology, found to have been used in Apple’s iPhone 4 and iPad 2.
Early this month in Silicon Valley, jurors at a different patent trial held the line on its $119.6-million damages award to Apple in a patent battle with Samsung.
While the amount of the award is huge, it is only a fraction of the more than $2 billion Apple had sought at the outset of the trial against its South Korean competitor in the hot smartphone and tablet computer market.
Jurors agreed that Samsung violated three of five Apple patents at issue in the two-month trial.
Jurors also found that Apple violated a Samsung patent and said Apple should pay its rival $158,400 in damages.
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