Apple and Google/Motorola Mobility have agreed to a settlement and will dismiss pending patent litigation between the two companies, according to a court filing referenced by Reuters.
As part of the settlement, Apple and Google have agreed to work together "in some areas of patent reform". Apple and Google have been in patent disputes for years. This particular settlement does not include a patent cross-licensing agreement, which is sometimes included in patent settlements.
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In a joint statement, the companies said the settlement does not include a cross license to their respective patents. "Apple and Google have also agreed to work together in some areas of patent reform," the statement said.
The dispute between Apple and Motorola began in 2010, with both companies accusing each other of patent infringement. Google inherited the legal issues when it purchased Motorola Mobility in 2011. There are more than a dozen different lawsuits between the two companies in various jurisdictions around the world, and this agreement is said to settle all of them.
Apple still has numerous patent lawsuits in the works against a vast array of companies, most notably Samsung. Earlier this year, Google announced it was selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.91 billion.
Apple and HTC settled their patent disputes in late 2012, agreeing to a ten-year cross licensing agreement.
Top Rated Comments
Net win for Apple? Not likely. Not only have they come out looking like bullies in the eyes of many, they are directly responsible for giving Samsung so much free advertising and publicity (for good or bad), that they made the Galaxy series of phones synonymous with Android! And that is not a good thing.
Now here is why I think Apple settled with Google AND this is the only reason: Google's patent for rich notifications and the Notification Center, which has been sitting in the USPTO for over 6 years is probably about to be granted. If Google were inclined, they would be able to sue and show proof positive that Apple willfully and deliberately stole this patent, putting it on every hardware product they make, save for the ATV. This could amount to tens of billions of dollars as well as bans on every single product Apple makes, in particular the iPhone. Apple would prefer to not risk this. This is my guess as to why Apple is doing this.
Lastly, Google didn't overpay for Motorola. You do know they got nearly all that cash back by splitting up the set top box portion and the sale to Lenovo. Not like they spent 3 billion on a headphone company. Wink wink
YaY to the settlement.
* The iPhone uses 1570mAh / 10 hours / 727K = .00022 mAh per pixel.
* The Galaxy uses 2800mAh / 11 hours / 2M = .00012 mAh per pixel.
The Galaxy is nearly twice as efficient in battery usage per pixel.