We’ve spent the last couple of years seeing two of the biggest technology companies battling each other over patent disputes. What’s even more interesting about this drama is that both companies are also partners in various ways as Samsung is a big supplier of Apple’s silicone on iOS and Mac products. We’ve kept you on the loop on how these companies have fought each other inside US courts, but the story is broader outside the country, or so it was.
It seems that both Apple and Samsung have decided to end all their patent disputes outside the US. We’ve already seen how a jury granted Apple $930 million for one patent trial, and $119 million for the second one, while Samsung barely made $158,400 on a minor dispute that it won. We don’t know which party decided to convince the other to stop the fight, but given the level of stress between each company in their existing partnerships, it’s clear that Samsung was losing a lot of money.
Hopefully this is an end of an era that most of us don’t like to remember. Patent disputes hinder innovation for consumers more than they actually help. Still, we can’t predict if this is not just an open door for a new roll of disputes in the future with some of Samsung’s rumored products. This could mean that both companies are reaching a licensing deal, but time will tell.
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