Apple agrees HTC patent deal

Apple has agreed a global settlement with HTC which sees all current lawsuits dropped and a ten-year license established between the warring companies.

Spanning multiple courtrooms across the world, both parties decided to drop the litigation process and instead strike a patent cross-licensing deal for the next decade.

“We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC,” says Tim Cook, CEO of Apple.

"We will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation."

With Apple claiming a similar billion-dollar victory over rivals Samsung in August, their willingness to strike a deal may appear unexpected given the alleged patent infringements were similar in both cases.

But the Silicon Valley based company has decided not to pursuit HTC legally, who with all due respect are a much smaller target than their South Korean counterparts.

On the other side, HTC will no doubt be happy to avoid an expensive lawyers bill and instead focus on trying to make their mark in the Apple and Samsung dominated electronics industry.

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

While reasons for the settlement will no doubt be kept under wraps for long into the future and with the terms of the deal unsurprisingly confidential, it appears both parties are more interested in progressing their products rather than fighting court cases at huge cost, time and effort.

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