Taiwan’s HTC settles patent disputes with Apple

A woman walks past a HTC store in the Younghe district of New Taipei City on November 11, 2012. Taiwan’s leading smartphone maker HTC said it has reached a global settlement with technology giant Apple, bringing an end to all outstanding litigation between the two companies. AFP

TAIPEI — HTC Corp. and Apple Inc. have settled their outstanding patent disputes.

In a joint statement Sunday, the two companies said they also signed a 10-year license agreement that will extend to current and future patents held by one another.

Cupertino, California-based Apple and Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC had battled over the patents for various smartphone features since March 2010. Apple was claiming that HTC phones running Google’s Android software had infringed on patents it held.

HTC chief executive Peter Chou says ending the litigation will allow his company to focus more on product innovation.

HTC has grown as the first maker of phones running on Android software. But its sales faltered from the second half of 2011 in a market increasingly divided between Apple and Samsung Electronics Co.