14 DAY TRIAL // Copying the iPhone will cost Samsung less than expected. Apple has agreed to drop all suits against Samsung around the world. Therefore, all claims are dropped in Australia, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Netherlands, the UK, France and Italy. Samsung has agreed to do the same.
According to a Bloomberg report, Apple and Samsung are sick to fight each other and spend money on lawyers and suits. Their patent fight has drained Samsung of a lot of resources after the company has released numerous phones that were iPhone replicas. On the other hand, Samsung accused Apple of stealing some of their patents on wireless-transmission technology. Bloomberg says neither side has won and the judges kept on asking the two tech giants to settle rather than take these claims to court.
The cited source mentions that signs of de-escalation were spotted two months ago when Apple and Samsung dropped their appeals of a patent-infringement case at the U.S. International Trade Commission that resulted in an import ban on some Samsung phones.
A new agreement signed between Apple and Google, the makers of Android Operating System pre-installed on Samsung devices, was announced back in May of 2014. The two companies have reached a conclusion to drop lawsuits against one another related to Motorola Mobility.
These new developments will not help Samsung too much, because the bigger battle is fought in the United States. Apple does not want to drop their lawsuits on US soil and that has caused Samsung shares to fall last night in Seoul.
In a common statement, the two companies explained the agreements do not include any licensing arrangements, and Apple and Samsung are continuing to pursue the existing cases in U.S. courts.
Apple has already won two California suits and have received $930 million (€694 million) in 2012 and $120 million (€89.6 million) last year from Samsung. Bloomberg recalls how the hearings have revealed a plethora of internal Samsung emails where the higher-ups in South Korea were urging their employees to create a phone that matches the iPhone.
The cited source also mentions how Samsung sales have declined in the last quarter and their global market share went down 7.4 percentage points. The company also lost top spots in very important markets like China and India. On the other hand, Apple continues to rise. The last quarter has seen a significant increase in iPhone and Mac sales.