Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), HTC agree to settle all court cases

Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) and HTC have agreed to settle all differences between themselves and put an end to all legal disputes that each have filed against the other over the last two years.

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It rare for warring companies to arrive at a mutually agreed settlement when patent violations are involved and rarer still to find them agreeing to settle all cases.

Apple had HTC have been warring against each other since 2010, when Apple filed its initial lawsuit against HTC, which then counter-sued and thus the saga has gone on.

According to a statement by Apple, which is up on is site, the two companies have “reached a global settlement that includes the dismissal of all current lawsuits and a ten-year license agreement.”

Both Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, and Tim Cook, CEO of Apple provide short and to-the-point quotes on the situation:

“HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation,” says Peter Chou, while Tim Cook echoes his words by saying “We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC. We will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation.”

This can technically b seen as a win for Apple, which is seen to be waging a proxy war against Google and its Android operating system, by filing cases against its handset partners such as Motorola, Samsung, HTC, LG and others.

Samsung is no doubt, it bitter rival and the two companies have been winning and losing court cases against each other, depending on where the trial is being heard.

For HTC, it must be a relief that it’s not going to have to face the possibility of a $1 billion judgement against it, as unlike Samsung, it doesn’t have money to throw around.