Samsung and Apple call truce in patent war

Arch-rivals Samsung and Apple Wednesday decided to drop all patent disputes outside the United States, marking a partial ceasefire in a long-running legal war between the world’s two largest smartphone makers.  Photo/FILE

In Summary

• “Samsung and Apple have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States,” Samsung said in a statement.
• Apple has accused its South Korean rival of massive and wilful copying of its designs and technology for smartphones and tablets, and has asked for a bar on US sales of Samsung smartphones and tablet computers.

SEOUL, Wednesday

Arch-rivals Samsung and Apple Wednesday decided to drop all patent disputes outside the United States, marking a partial ceasefire in a long-running legal war between the world’s two largest smartphone makers.

 

Both companies have been locked in a three-year battle of litigative attrition in close to a dozen countries, with each accusing the other of infringing on various patents related to their flagship smartphones and tablets.

But neither has managed to deliver a knock-out blow with a number of rulings going different ways. Today’s announcement suggested a line was finally being drawn.

“Samsung and Apple have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States,” Samsung said in a statement.

However, the agreement came with one key caveat, with the two giants stressing that they would continue “to pursue the existing cases in US courts.”

The patent row started in earnest back in 2011, when Apple sued Samsung in a US court and swiftly went trans-continental with cases being heard in South Korea, Germany, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, England, France and Australia among others.

Apple has accused its South Korean rival of massive and wilful copying of its designs and technology for smartphones and tablets, and has asked for a bar on US sales of Samsung smartphones and tablet computers.

USED WITHOUT PERMITION
Samsung has counter-claimed that Apple had used some of its technology without permission.

The two firms had been pushed into talks in early February by a US court order that saw Apple chief executive Tim Cook and his Samsung mobile communications counterpart JK Shin attend a full-day negotiation session, along with their advisers and legal teams.

But despite several follow-ups, the mediator’s settlement proposal was not taken up and the litigation continued. (AFP)