Apple And Samsung Finally Settle Long-Running iPhone Patent Infringement Battle

Apple and Samsung have been fighting a patent infringement legal battle for seven years after the latter was accused of copying the iPhone design and software features. Samsung denied the allegations, but a jury saw it differently. This year a jury set out to decide if Samsung owed Apple $1 billion for the infringement or a "measly" $28 million. Ultimately, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $539 million.

Apple and Samsung instead agreed to settle the case and end the long-running patent battle. Court documents were filed Wednesday of this week, but those documents didn’t disclose the terms of the settlement. Samsung had already paid Apple the majority of that $539 million and at the time of settlement owed Apple $140 million.

In 2012, a Jury said that Samsung had to pay Apple over a billion dollars for copying aspects of the iPhone, but that penalty was later reduced by $450 million. The legal battle has raged all the way to the Supreme Court between the tech giants. The Supreme Court heard the case in 2016 where the ruling was again against Samsung with the Korean firm being ordered to pay $399 million. The highest court in the land also sent the case back to lower courts to finalize the financial aspects of the case.

Apple has maintained that the case was about much more than money; jurors found that Samsung had infringed on most of the patents asserted by Apple. Specific patents covered features like double-tap zooming and icon setup. Neither Samsung or Apple have offered statements on the settlement. Apple is still fighting a nasty patent case against Qualcomm.