Sunday, November 11, 2012

What were the terms of the Apple-HTC settlement?




From Fortune: ......The two sides aren't saying, but we can make some educated guesses …. On Saturday, Apple announced that it had signed a 10-year cross-licensing deal -- the terms of which are confidential -- with a second Android phone maker.  The first company was Samsung, which chose instead to take its chances in a California jury trial that resulted in a $1.05 billion judgement it is currently fighting to reduce.

The second was HTC, which for several reasons was more inclined to cut a deal with Apple: Unlike Samsung, whose smartphone sales have reportedly overtaken the iPhone, HTC's share of the global smartphone market have been shrinking rapidly (to 4% last quarter from 10.3% in the same quarter last year, according to IDC)  Its revenue and profits have fallen four quarters in a row  It already lost one patent fight with Apple at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), leading to a temporary ban on the sale in the U.S. of two of its newest phones
It lost a high-profile countersuit, suggesting that the $300 million it spent on a portfolio of patents to gain leverage against Apple might have been wasted…..


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