These two technology giants have agreed to stop suing each other and to work together for systemic reforms.
Google and Apple have now come to an agreement that will enter them into a ceasefire within their mobile patents war, in which neither of them will sue the other and in which they will both work together in the effort to encourage patent system reforms in the United States.
The current truce is one of the outcomes of a massive trial that started back in 2010 between the two.
In that year, the trial in which Apple had sued Motorola Mobility was started. The latter company is the hardware manufacturer that was purchased by Google in order to divide it up and sell off its parts, maintaining a boatload of technology and mobile patents. As a result of the way that the lawsuit played out, a joint statement from the two companies now reads that “Apple and Google have agreed to dismiss all the current lawsuits that exist directly between the two companies.” It added that “Apple and Google have also agreed to work together in some areas of patent reform. The agreement does not include a cross license.”
It appears that some of the mobile patents lawsuits from Apple will continue, though not directly against Google.
The wording of the statement that was made by the companies indicates that the lawsuits that are underway from Apple against mobile device manufacturers that are using the Android operating system, from Google, would not cease. This includes the patent suit opened by Apple against Samsung that has brought about two massive headline making trials in San Jose, California, as well as comparable legal battles occurring in other nations.
In both of the high profile trials against Samsung, Apple has come out the winner. However, the second judgment’s damages were notably lower. It was in that second case that newer Samsung mobile devices were included.
The lawsuits against many of the companies using Android were carrying out a vow by Steve Jobs, the late CEO of Apple, in which he said that the company would go “thermonuclear” against Google for having copied the iOS for the iPhone in what he referred to as “grand theft.”. That statement was revealed in the Walter Isaacson biography of Jobs which was published after the Apple co-founder’s death.
This means that Samsung mobile gadgets that use the touch screen technology and the headphones that are involved in the patent violate can no longer be imported, distributed, or sold in the United States. This doesn’t meant that all of the devices made by the company cannot be sold, but it does involve all of those found to be in violation of the patent.