Apple and the Taiwanese company HTC Corp, reached a settlement over the weekend in a patent infringement lawsuit, in which Apple accused the latter of design infringement on HTC Android handset designs.
According to EE Times, HTC agreed to pay the Cupertino company $280 million per year. Analysts say the amount approximates to $6-$8 per Android piece HTC sells. Apple announced that the case has been dismissed as a result and the two parties have reached a 10-year-licencse agreement.
Apple CEO, Tim Cook told EE Times, "We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC." The HTC Corp CEO, Peter Chou said, "We are glad to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation."
This is Apple's second major win in the battle of patent infringement against other Smartphone creators. Over the summer, Apple won a case against Samsung Electronics Co. A few months ago, due to Apple's claims that Samsung's Galaxy Tablet infringed on patents of its very popular iPad, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ordered the Galaxy 10.1 computer tablet to be temporarily removed from the US markets.
Samsung released a statement as follows: "Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited," as reported on Reuters.
In turn, Apple released a statement in direct rebuttal to the South Korean company on Reuters, "It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging."
Earlier this week, Apple lost a U.S. high court reversed the injunction Apple had placed on the Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone.
In light of winning of the major patent suit against Samsung, Apple submitted an injunction on certain Samsung products in the U.S. market.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that lower district court in California "abused its discretion in entering an injunction," as reported by Reuters.
In August, a jury of nine at a San Jose court ruled that Samsung Electronics Co. "willfully infringed" on a number of Apple's patent devices, granting them $1.05 billion, Samsung looks to appeal the decision.
Earlier the same day of August 24, Samsung and Apple tied in an infringement-related litigation in South Korea. Bans were placed on both companies. However the bans were limited to products older than three years and only applied to the South Korean market.
