Apple, HTC patent deal seen as first of many

Rick Merritt, EETimes
11/12/2012 8:49 PM EST

SAN JOSE, Calif. – The licensing deal between Apple and Taiwan’s HTC will be the first of many to come, according to patent watchers who see the deal as a turning point in a two-and-a-half-year mobile war.

Apple announced on Nov. 10 it reached “a global settlement that includes the dismissal of all current lawsuits and a ten-year license agreement” with HTC, although it declined to provide details of the deal. Apple sued HTC for patent infringement on March 2, 2010, firing the first shot in a mobile patent war that eventually grew to more than 100 lawsuits and countersuits.