HTC and Apple settle all patent issues, enter 10-year licensing deal

HTC has just confirmed that it's settled all of its ongoing patent disputes with Apple, opting into a 10-year licensing agreement. To refresh your memory, this particular saga begin back on March 2nd, 2010, when Apple filed lawsuits with the International Trade Commission and US District Court. That initial filing covered 20 patents related to iOS, which it accused HTC of infringing upon, and since then it has only been an ever-expanding battle. Essentially all the juicy details of the settlement between the companies are completely under wraps, but both HTC's CEO, Peter Chou and Apple's man-in-charge, Tim Cook have issued brief words for the official joint statement (the whole of which can be seen after the break):

"HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation," said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC.

"We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC," said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. "We will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation.

Notably, this settlement applies to all past and future patents for the companies, meaning we shouldn't be witnessing the two fight it out in court for years to come -- at least on the patent front.

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Filed under: Mobile, Apple, HTC

HTC and Apple settle all patent issues, enter 10-year licensing deal originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Nov 2012 21:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.