Apple and Samsung agree to settle all non-US litigation

Posted:
in General Discussion edited August 2014
In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, Apple and Samsung said they have dropped all ongoing patent litigation outside of the U.S., a move that could save both companies millions of dollars in legal fees from protracted court proceedings.

Galaxy


The release, obtained by various press outlets and subsequently reported by the Financial Times, notes Apple and Samsung have agreed to a truce that applies to cases in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and the UK.

From the statement:
Apple and Samsung have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States.

This agreement does not involve any licensing arrangements, and the companies are continuing to pursue the existing cases in US courts.
As noted, licensing agreements concerning infringed and accused-infringed intellectual property are not included in the ceasefire. Without such deals in place, there is nothing standing in the way of either company lodging lawsuits in new venues, though the undisclosed deal may contain clauses that restrict such behavior.

By dissolving all international cases, Apple and Samsung will likely focus their efforts on two California court trials, both of which are now in the appeals phase. Apple was handed a pair of victories in its Apple v. Samsung court actions, with the first jury deciding on a verdict ultimately worth $930 million in damages and the second calling for Samsung to pay $120 million for infringing Apple's patents.

The most recent development in California came last week when Apple dropped a cross-appeal that sought a permanent injunction against Samsung products found to be in infringement of certain IP.

The companies' epic legal struggle began in April 2011, when Apple sued Samsung for copying the look and feel of its iPhone and iPad devices with multiple products including those from the flagship Galaxy lineup. From there, the patent war quickly spread beyond U.S. borders to include suits and countersuits filed in ten countries spanning across four continents.

Today's news smacks of another recent high-profile peace treaty in which Apple and Google's Motorola agreed to drop ongoing lawsuits related to smartphone technology, vowing to work together on patent reform.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 64
    rwesrwes Posts: 200member
    "Woah"
  • Reply 2 of 64
    Wow, unbelievable.
    Samsung probably refuses to pay for the cases that they lost in the US.
  • Reply 3 of 64
    bigmikebigmike Posts: 266member
    Good kids. Gold star for the day.
  • Reply 4 of 64
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Screw this nonsense.

  • Reply 5 of 64
    kpomkpom Posts: 660member

    Great news. Maybe they can go back to being partners instead of enemies. The writing was on the wall. Outside the US basically the court cases were going nowhere for Apple or Samsung. Even here, courts seem reluctant to issue product bans or force anything more than modest royalties and settlements. Also, the past year has shown the limits of Samsung's ability to grow its profits at Apple's expense. They have reported several disappointing quarters in a row while Apple has soared.

  • Reply 6 of 64
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by KPOM View Post

    Great news. Maybe they can go back to being partners instead of enemies. [Samsung has] reported several disappointing quarters in a row while Apple has soared.



    And so why should Apple partner with them to help them in any capacity?

  • Reply 7 of 64
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,904moderator

    Here comes the longest sentence I may ever have written...

     

    The battle has shifted away from look and feel toward capabilities and Apple has been showing that it has created a wide lead in that realm with true 64 bit processing, Touch ID security and other security capabilities, tight integration across the mobile and laptop/desktop ecosystem, CarPlay, HomeKit, HealthKit, Metal, first priority among developers when creating new apps, build quality, style, a global high-end retail presence, key partnerships, on boarding of new management and creative talent, secret projects in the works we've yet to glimpse, potential for iPayments, indoor mapping, a location-aware services and promotion/coupon network for Apple's advertising partners, an up and coming streaming radio service and associated talent to augment iTunes Radio, Beats headphones, earbuds, speakers and audio systems, iWatch, a large screen iPhone or two to take away the Android camp's only remaining advantage, updated iPads with TouchId, an eventual updated AppleTV with 4K and enhanced gaming capabilities and growing live content streaming options, and a critical mass of loyal customers eagerly awaiting all of this and whatever Apple comes up with next. 

  • Reply 8 of 64
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by rwes View Post



    "Woah"

     

    image

  • Reply 9 of 64
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    These are only cases outside the US. I believe this is because the rest of the world is relatively lax on protections for IP (the United States is one of few countries that have strong property protection laws...property protection is integral to our Constitution) and Apple taking Samsung to court would be a waste of time.

    Also, I think the new iPhone 6 is going to be a blockbuster that will be difficult, if not impossible, for Samsung to reproduce due to use of advanced materials processes by Apple. Comments by Cook and Cue lead me to believe we're going to see some eye popping stuff soon.

    Here's the Verge's take on it: http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/5/5973485/samsung-and-apple-dropping-legal-disputes-outside-the-us
  • Reply 10 of 64
    rwesrwes Posts: 200member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by LighteningKid View Post

     


     

    @LighteningKid Clutch! lol

     

    @RadarTheKat I think you're right. It'll let them focus on what they do best, and I think this is Apple betting on what they do best. Time will tell.

  • Reply 11 of 64
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member

  • Reply 12 of 64
    sau124sau124 Posts: 18member
    Seriously? Apple is no longer a "Jobs" company. I would have preferred that Cook kept pushing and ensuring that the innovation is protected in the right way. Just my 2 cents!
  • Reply 13 of 64

    I think it was already mentioned earlier - In other part of the world the enforcement of any outcome would have been difficult. I think it is smart move for both side. The biggest losers in this are those lawyers!

     

    Though, I am a tad bit disappointed! It does sort of gives a wrong message - People can steal your innovation and you can get away with it! It also allow Xiaomi to go ahead and blatantly make copies of all Apple products.

  • Reply 14 of 64
    magman1979magman1979 Posts: 1,301member
    kpom wrote: »
    Great news. Maybe they can go back to being partners instead of enemies.
    I sincerely hope not, because I do not buy any more products that are Scamsung made, and I hope Apple continues along the present path of diversifying it's supply chain and steering as far away from Scamsung as possible, treating them as a last resort.
  • Reply 15 of 64
    rwesrwes Posts: 200member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by radster360 View Post

     

    I think it was already mentioned earlier - In other part of the world the enforcement of any outcome would have been difficult. I think it is smart move for both side. The biggest losers in this are those lawyers!

     

    Though, I am a tad bit disappointed! It does sort of gives a wrong message - People can steal your innovation and you can get away with it! It also allow Xiaomi to go ahead and blatantly make copies of all Apple products.


    Xiaomi is taking it past the products - behavior like theirs, it'll be interesting to see how they do outside of China. It will also be interesting to see, *if* Apple were to kill it (implementation/rollout/adoption) with mobile payments and/or Health(Kit)/HomeKit/Car Play, like they basally did with Touch ID or the mobile 64bit ARM rollout, how the others will 'keep up' when they have to rely on someone else for the software that underpins it all. And back to something everyone knows; vertical integration like Apple is, is sweet and vertical integration like Apple is, isn't easy.

  • Reply 16 of 64
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    ???? Tim Cook. Can't wait until the US lawsuits are done and dusted too.

    Btw, one of the reasons software designer Bas Ording left Apple was because of the patent lawsuits. Look him up - his name is on some of Apple's most important patents, like the "rubber banding" patent.

    http://www.osnews.com/story/27806/Designer_of_key_iOS_features_left_Apple_because_of_patent_suits

    [quote]"Because my name is listed on patents, I increasingly had to appear in court cases versus HTC and Samsung," he said, "That started to annoy me. I spent more time in court than designing. Aside from that, I missed the interaction with Steve Jobs. We discussed matters every fourteen days."[/quote]
  • Reply 17 of 64
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    These are only cases outside the US. I believe this is because the rest of the world is relatively lax on protections for IP (the United States is one of few countries that have strong property protection laws...property protection is integral to our Constitution) and Apple taking Samsung to court would be a waste of time.

    Also, I think the new iPhone 6 is going to be a blockbuster that will be difficult, if not impossible, for Samsung to reproduce due to use of advanced materials processes by Apple. Comments by Cook and Cue lead me to believe we're going to see some eye popping stuff soon.

    Here's the Verge's take on it: http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/5/5973485/samsung-and-apple-dropping-legal-disputes-outside-the-us
    Don't forget Ive's comment to the NY Times:

    http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/jonathan-ive-on-apples-design-process-and-product-philosophy/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
    I would love to talk about future stuff – they’re materials we haven’t worked in before. I’ve been working on this stuff for a few years now. Tim is fundamentally involved in pushing into these new areas and into these materials.
  • Reply 18 of 64
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,851member
    Here comes the longest sentence I may ever have written...

    The battle has shifted away from look and feel toward capabilities and Apple has been showing that it has created a wide lead in that realm with true 64 bit processing, Touch ID security and other security capabilities, tight integration across the mobile and laptop/desktop ecosystem, CarPlay, HomeKit, HealthKit, Metal, first priority among developers when creating new apps, build quality, style, a global high-end retail presence, key partnerships, on boarding of new management and creative talent, secret projects in the works we've yet to glimpse, potential for iPayments, indoor mapping, a location-aware services and promotion/coupon network for Apple's advertising partners, an up and coming streaming radio service and associated talent to augment iTunes Radio, Beats headphones, earbuds, speakers and audio systems, iWatch, a large screen iPhone or two to take away the Android camp's only remaining advantage, updated iPads with TouchId, an eventual updated AppleTV with 4K and enhanced gaming capabilities and growing live content streaming options, and a critical mass of loyal customers eagerly awaiting all of this and whatever Apple comes up with next. 

    Yep. :D
  • Reply 19 of 64
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post

    Don't forget Ive's comment to the NY Times:

     

    On that point, it seems to me like Tim would be just as good as Steve in pushing such things, but for different reasons. Where Steve would come at it from a “Oh, that’d be cool, but it’s in really limited production now. Screw that. We’re doing it; I don’t care what that means” angle, Tim would analyze the material/what have you and say, “Okay, I’ve run down [Mohs hardness test/spec sheet/etc.] of [thing] and this is certainly better than every alternative on the market, but it’s in really limited producion now. We’re doing it; I don’t care what that means.”

  • Reply 20 of 64

    Everyone: Please.

    If I may have your attention please.

     

    Remain calm. Do not panic.

     

    Both companies have issued statements saying that the forum wars will go on as previously scheduled. Do not rescind any planned troll memes or displays of faux concern for Apple's competitiveness. We will continue the tribal brand wars as normal. As the Brits say, "Keep Calm and Troll On."

     

    Thank you,

    The Management

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