Apple and HTC Settle Patent Dispute, Agree to Ten Year License

The Verge is reporting that:<p>HTC representative Jeff Gordon tells The Verge that the company "does not expect this license agreement to have any adverse material impact on the financials of the company".<p><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/10/3629376/apple-and-htc-settle-all-patent-litigation-with-10-year-license" rel="nofollow">http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/10/3629376/apple-and-htc-set...</a>

&#62; “HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC.<p>Sounds like an attempted burn on Apple, and then...<p>&#62; “We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC,” said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. “We will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation.”<p>Am I reading into this wrong or is Apple backhanding HTC in this press release?

$100 million and 2 years later, nothing changed. What a waste of time and money.

This doesn't sound good for Samsung. I assume this validates many of Apple's claims.

I wonder if this is related to HTC's licensing agreement with Microsoft for their Android phones?<p><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2010/apr10/04-27MSHTCPR.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2010/apr10/04-27MS...</a><p>Although Samsung has some sort of agreement with Microsoft too.<p><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2011/sep11/09-28SamsungPR.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2011/sep11/09-28Sa...</a>

In other Apple IP-related news: They've been ordered to pay Swiss Rail $21 million for that clock design debacle <a href="http://phys.org/news/2012-11-apple-swiss-rail-21mn-clock.html" rel="nofollow">http://phys.org/news/2012-11-apple-swiss-rail-21mn-clock.htm...</a>

Apple's press statement:<p><a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/11/11HTC-and-Apple-Settle-Patent-Dispute.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/11/11HTC-and-Apple-Sett...</a>

After the recent management reshuffle, could this be a sign of Apple backing away from all the patent crazyness? The article implies the settlement was two-way and not very big.

Apple understands only the logic of MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction).