Could this be the beginning of the end of what Steve Jobs thermonuclear war?
Maybe so. Apple and Samsung announced Wednesday they would drop their patent cases against each other outside the U.S., according to the Associated Press.
But the companies stopped short of declaring a real truce. Samsung said the two firms had not reached cross licensing agreements and would continue with their cases in the U.S.
Still, the announcement signals that the companies are getting ready to move on, analysts said.
The three year battle between the two smartphone makers spanned the planet. But it was in the U.S. where Apple saw the bigger awards. In 2012, a San Jose jury awarded Apple nearly $1 billion. And in May, a San Jose jury awarded the iPhone maker $119 million, as the Merc reported then.
The high stakes patent battle, which included import bans, occurred as the tech industry pushed for federal patent reform to stop what advocates for reform deemed as frivolous legal threats. The Senate earlier this year declined to take up the patent reform package passed in the House.
Apple and Samsung may be winding down their battle because of competitive pressures, Lee Seung Woo, an analyst at IBK Securities Co. told Bloomberg:
The whole industry paradigm is changing. Apple and Samsung have no time to waste and it s time to get back to work.
Above: Samsung and Apple smartphones. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
