Apple and Samsung agree to drop cases outside the US

The two biggest competitors in the smartphone and tablet PC market have sued each other over a range of patent disputes in nine countries outside the US, including the UK, South Korea, Japan and Germany.
A joint statement said the agreement “does not involve any licensing arrangements”, and they would continue to pursue existing cases in US courts.
But they have been involved in a bitter legal battle, spread across various countries, which has developed in recent years.
In May, a US court ordered Samsung to pay $119.6m (£71m) to Apple for infringing two of its patents. The amount was below the $2.2bn that Apple had sought.
But the court also ruled that Apple infringed on Samsung’s patents and awarded $158,000 in damages.
However, Samsung denied any wrongdoing and sought $6m after arguing Apple infringed two of its smartphone patents related to camera use and video transmission.
The jury decided several Samsung devices had infringed iPhone-maker Apple’s software and design patents, but rejected counter-claims by Samsung.
That verdict is still being challenged by Samsung.
Credit: BBC