Nokia, Apple finally call truce; say, all litigations to be settled

Nokia and Apple finally called truce on Tuesday, ending an almost two year long legal battle, with Apple agreeing to pay an undisclosed one-off fee and running royalties to Nokia.

The agreement will result in settlement of all patent litigation between the companies, including the withdrawal by Nokia and Apple of their respective complaints to the U.S. International Trade Commission, Nokia told to Reuters.

According to Nokia, this deal is said to improve the second quarter earnings of Nokia.We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licenses, said Stephen Elop, president and chief executive officer of Nokia. This settlement demonstrates Nokia's industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market.

Over the past few years, technology related litigations have increased in number. To list a few - Apple vs. Kodak, Microsoft vs. Motorola, Apple vs. HTC, and several others. Apple and Nokia have been at loggerheads ever since Nokia sued Apple way back in October 2009, stating that the latter's products had infringed on 10 of its patents.

Apple also quickly reacted to the allegations by slapping a similar litigation on the Finnish firm. Whether this recent settlement will serve as a model for future technology related entanglements is something that we have to wait and watch.