HTC and Apple released a joint statement tonight announcing an end to their global patent dispute. The settlement comes with a new, 10-year cross licensing deal that includes both current and future patents, though no terms were disclosed. HTC's Peter Chou and Apple's Tim Cook had this to say about the deal:
“HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC.“We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC,” said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. “We will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation.”
Phil Nickinson of our Mobile Nations sibling site, Android Central spoke to HTC tonight and also learned:
The licensing deal covers all of HTC's products, company spokesman Jeff Gordon told Android Central this evening, which includes Android as well as its current Windows Phone stable. Gordon also said that "we do not expect this license agreement to have an adverse material impact on the financials of the company."
Microsoft has long had a cross-licensing deal in place with Apple, and Nokia and Apple settled their patent dispute back in June of 2011. Samsung remains in litigation with Apple, as does Google-owned Motorola.
With HTC turning out fantastic new phones like the HTC 8X, it'll be nice to see their time, energy, and money keep going in that direction, rather than getting wasted over who was the first to put round corners on rubber-banding slide unlocker.
