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The feud between Samsung and Apple has gone on long enough. At least, that is what the Korean-based electronics manufacturer is saying. Even though the two have been embroiled in nearly two years of patent infringement lawsuits that have ended in victories and defeats for both parties, the fight continues across the globe. That is, until today.
According to The Verge, Samsung announced its plans to drop injunction requests against Apple for standards-essential patent infringement in Germany, the UK, France, Italy and the Netherlands.
“Samsung remains committed to licensing our technologies on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, and we strongly believe it is better when companies compete fairly in the marketplace, rather than in court. In this spirit, Samsung has decided to withdraw our injunction requests against Apple on the basis of our standard essential patents pending in European courts, in the interest of protecting consumer choice.”
In January of this year, Samsung was told that it would be investigated by the European Union for possibly breaching antitrust rules. In 1998, the Korean-based company promised to license its standard, essentials patents under FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms, but turned around and sued Apple for patent infringement in 2011.
While there is no official statement that the two are connected, it is possible that Samsung withdrew its injunction requests because of the antitrust investigation, not because of some altruistic desire to protect consumer choice.
Samsung and Apple are still battling it out in the courts. This announcement does not affect current litigation in the U.S.
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