[JURIST] HTC and Apple [corporate websites] announced [press release] Saturday that they have reached a global settlement dismissing all patent lawsuits between the parties. The conflict between the two companies arose after Apple initially filed suit [JURIST report] against HTC in the US District Court for the District of Delaware [official website] in March 2010 alleging that HTC infringed several of Apple’s patents [press release], and then Apple filed an additional suit to bar HTC from importing its products to the US. The CEOs of both companies stated that they were pleased to have settled the lengthy dispute and would now focus on innovation. The settlement terms are confidential. The companies also reached a 10-year licensing agreement covering the current and future patents of both corporations.

The US International Trade Commission (USITC) [official website] ruled [JURIST report] in June that HTC could not use five patents that it obtained from Google [corporate website] last August in its case against Apple. In December, the USITC ruled in favor of Apple [JURIST report] in its claim against HTC for infringing its “data tapping” patents. A month earlier, the same agency found for Apple [JURIST report] and held that the company did not infringe HTC’s patents it obtained from acquiring the subsidiary S3 Graphics Co. In August HTC filed three patent complaints against Apple after the USITC ruled against HTC [JURIST reports] for patent infringement relating to cell phones that run the Android operating system (OS) in July. After the initial lawsuit in March 2010, a second lawsuit was initiated by Apple in July last year when it filed a claim against HTC [JURIST report] with the USITC for patent infringement related to scrolling and touchscreen features.