Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC has reached a settlement with Apple, the Cupertino, California based tech giant. The settlement resolves all the pending disputes that relate to patents and closed out a fight between the two companies that started in early 2010. As part of the settlement, a license agreement of 10 years was also signed by the two tech companies. The new agreement extends to all current and future patents for each of the two companies.
HTC has made a number of upgrades to its HTC One, which is its flagship mobile phone. The phone maker also introduced two phones that run on the Windows 8 system for phones that was designed by Microsoft. HTC said recently that it expected this year’s sales to be less than was originally projected, as it has been difficult for the mobile phone maker to equal the success of its many rivals.
HTC and Apple, prior to the settlement, were in more than 20 legal battles throughout the world. Nearly one year ago, Cupertino based Apple won an injunction by the court from the U.S. International Trade Commission that was termed a limited exclusion order. The order directed HTC to not bring any smartphones into the U.S. market from April 2012 forward.
Apple and many of its rivals have sued and countersued each other over the past several years, with each accusing the other of stealing designs, as well as ideas in a mobile phone market that is very, very lucrative.
