Apple, Samsung end lengthy dispute
SAN FRANCISCO: Apple and Samsung have ended a years-long patent battle over copied iPhone design with an undisclosed settlement, according to a United States court filing on Wednesday.
The world’s two biggest smartphone makers reached a truce in their seven-year-old court battle a month after a federal court jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple some US$539 million (RM2.18 billion) for copying patented iPhone features.
That award was seen as a victory for Apple, which had argued in court that design was essential to the iPhone.
Financial terms of the settlement were not revealed and neither company elaborated on the brief court order, which dismissed the litigation dating back to 2011.
“Whereas the court has been advised by the parties that the above-entitled action has been settled, all remaining claims and counterclaims in this case are hereby dismissed with prejudice,” US District Court judge Lucy Koh wrote.
Apple’s suit claimed Samsung, now the world’s biggest handset maker, copied the design and other features of the iPhone as the smartphone market was exploding.
The case was keenly watched as a precedent for whether design is so important that it could actually be considered the “article of design” even in a product as complex as a smartphone.