Apple, Google smartphone patent row settled
After years of legal arguments over IP, tech giants Apple and Google have agreed to drop all current patent disputes between them.
The BBC reports that in a joint statement, the companies said they would work together in “some areas of patent reform” – but the deal did not include licensing their technology to each other.
“Apple and Google have agreed to dismiss all the current lawsuits that exist directly between the two companies,” the companies said in a joint statement. “Apple and Google have also agreed to work together in some areas of patent reform.”
The truce covers Apple’s patent litigation with Google’s Motorola unit. Motorola sued Apple for patent infringement in 2010, and Apple countersued.
Until this deal was made, Apple and Google were locked in about 20 lawsuits against each other in the US and Germany.
The smartphone software world is divided largely between Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS operating systems, which give the two companies control over the apps where users spend most of their time.
