Apple and Nokia are friends again, for now.
This week, the two tech companies have jointly announced that they entered into a settlement agreement to end a six-month legal battle involving their latest intellectual property dispute. Consequently, the firms also inked a patent license deal that will last several years.
Nokia sued Apple in December 2016 in the U.S. and Germany. The Finnish brand accused the Cupertino-based company of infringing up to 32 types of its patent. Nokia claimed that Apple’s iPhone uses some of the technology that it had developed, including mobile device displays and user interfaces.
Under the settlement agreement, Apple will hand over an undisclosed amount and additional revenue to Nokia. Apple also agreed to carry some of Nokia’s digital health products in Apple stores. The two companies are also considering possible collaboration on digital health projects.
“The meaningful agreement moves our relationship with Apple from being adversaries in court to business partners working for the benefit of our customers,” said Nokia’s chief legal officer Maria Varsellona.
This settlement is not the first between Apple and Nokia. In 2011, Apple licensed some of Nokia’s patents. In the years that followed, the iPhone maker rejected Nokia’s subsequent licensing offers. However, Nokia claimed that some of Apple’s products still used several of its patented inventions.
