Samsung, Apple declare truce in war outside US

SEOUL - Agence France-Presse

Men are silhouetted against a video screen with an Apple Inc logo as they pose with a Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone in this photo illustration taken in the central Bosnian town of Zenica, May 17, 2013. REUTERS Photo

Arch-rivals Samsung and Apple decided yesterday to drop all patent disputes outside the United States, marking a partial ceasefire in a long-running legal war between the world’s two largest smartphone makers.

Both companies have been locked in a three-year battle of litigative attrition in close to a dozen countries, with each accusing the other of infringing on various patents related to their flagship smartphone and tablet products.

But neither has managed to deliver a knock-out blow with a number of rulings going different ways, and yesterday’s announcement suggested a line was finally being drawn.

“Samsung and Apple have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States,” Samsung said in a statement.

However, the agreement came with one key caveat, with the two giants stressing that they would continue “to pursue the existing cases in U.S. courts.”        

Changing market

The patent row kicked off in earnest back in 2011, when Apple sued Samsung in a U.S. court, and swiftly went trans-continental with cases being heard in South Korea, Germany, Japan, Italia, the Netherlands, England, France and Australia among others. Apple has accused its South Korean rival of massive and wilful copying of its designs and technology for smartphones and tablets, and has asked for a bar on US sales of Samsung smartphones and tablet computers.

Samsung has counter-claimed that Apple had used some of its technology without permission.
The two firms had been pushed into talks in early February by a U.S. court order that saw Apple CEO Tim Cook and his Samsung mobile communications counterpart JK Shin attend a full-day negotiation session, along with their advisors and legal teams.

But despite several follow-ups, the mediator’s settlement proposal was not taken up and the litigation continued.

In the latest development in May, a jury in federal court in California awarded Apple close to $120 million in damages in one of its patent suits with Samsung.

The award was only a fraction of the more than $2 billion Apple had sought at the outset of the trial, and the result was seen as partial victory for both sides.

When the lawsuits first started flying Samsung and Apple were the undisputed kings of the global smartphone market and their legal wrangles were seen as a fight for supremacy. But that situation has changed, as developed markets have become increasingly saturated and emerging markets more competitive with the rise of Chinese manufacturers like Lenovo, Xiaomi and Huawei.