Apple Vs. Google’s Motorola wrangle over smartphones is now over. Both companies, Apple and Google, agreed to settle all patent litigation over smartphones, ending one of the highest-profile lawsuits in technology. In a joint statement on Friday, the companies said the settlement does not include a cross-license to their respective patents. “Apple and Google have also agreed to work together in some areas of patent reform,” the statement said.
Apple and the companies that make smartphones using Google’s Android software have filed dozens of lawsuits against one another worldwide to protect their intellectual property rights over their respective technologies. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs called Android a “stolen product.”
According to filings on Friday, Google and Apple informed a federal appeals court in Washington that their cases should be dismissed. However, the deal does not apply to Apple’s litigation against Samsung Electronics.
The most high-profile case between Apple and Motorola had begun in 2010. Motorola accused Apple of infringing several patents, including one essential to how cellphones operate on a 3G network, while Apple said Motorola violated its patents to certain smartphone features.
The cases were consolidated in a Chicago court, but the judge dismissed it in 2012 shortly before trial, saying neither company had sufficient evidence to prove its case. Last month, the appeals court gave the iPhone manufacturer another chance to win a sales ban against Motorola.
Apple’s biggest victory over Android came against Samsung when it was awarded more than US$1 billion in damages in the US. The verdicts are on appeal.
Google acquired Motorola Mobility in 2012 for US$12.5 billion, and this year said it was selling the unit’s handset business to Lenovo while keeping the vast majority of the patents.
