Apple, Samsung settle 7-year-long battle over patent dispute

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc and South Korean smartphone maker Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Wednesday settled a legal battle over a patent dispute that had lasted seven years, a court document shows.

The Apple-Samsung battle, which started in 2011, formally ended after the world's two top smartphone manufacturers informed Judge Lucy Koh of the US District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose of their settlement.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed in the filing of the district court, and Judge Koh signed the order dismissing all suits with prejudice, which means no more legal actions could be filed on the same claim.

"Plaintiff Apple Inc and defendants Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Samsung Electronics America Inc, and Samsung Telecommunications America LLC would like to inform the court that they have agreed to drop and settle their remaining claims and counterclaims in this matter," the court document says.

Both parties have agreed to drop all remaining claims and counterclaims in this action and "bear their own attorneys' fees and costs," Koh said in the court document.

Apple has been accusing Samsung of "lavishly" copying the design of the iPhone, and it was awarded $539 million in damages by a US jury last month.

The US tech giant has originally been awarded $1.05 billion in damages in 2012, but a series of appeals pushed the case to the US Supreme Court and back.

An Apple statement in May said the company believes "deeply in the value of design, and our teams work tirelessly to create innovative products that delight our customers."

"This case has always been about more than money. Apple ignited the smartphone revolution with iPhone and it is a fact that Samsung blatantly copied our design," Apple said.