Samsung Settles Patent Suit with Apple
30 June, 2018
Samsung and rival Apple have at last settled an epic patent lawsuit that had been dragging on for seven years. Both sides submitted documents to a U.S. federal court in San Jose, California stating that they have reconciled and are ending all legal proceedings.
A Samsung staffer said Thursday, "We agreed to end the patent dispute, but we cannot reveal details." Apple also refrained from elaborating and said it tried its best to protect the patents that it "cares deeply about."
The dispute began in April 2011, when Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung in a U.S. court accusing the Korean electronics giant of infringing its patents on iPhone design and the pinch-to-zoom screen gesture.
At the time, Samsung had just rolled out the Galaxy S2 and began full-fledged efforts to overtake Apple in the global smartphone market. Samsung countersued.
The two companies appear to have concluded that a drawn-out legal dispute is detrimental to both. Samsung is estimated to owe Apple between W600 billion to W700 billion (US$1=W1,121).
The New York Times quoted a legal expert as saying, "Close to a decade of litigation, hundreds of millions of dollars spent on lawyers, and at the end of the day, no products went off the market."