Elan Microelectronics Corp, a Taiwanese touch design company, said on Thursday that Apple Inc will pay $5 million as part of a settlement in a patent infringement case.

The statement said the two companies would also exchange authorizations to use each other's patents.

In 2009, Elan sued Apple in the United States over two patent infringements and the California-based giant counter-sued later the same year.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled in favour of Apple in June last year, saying Apple had not violated U.S. trade law.

Apple is involved in a number of patent disputes following the massive popularity of the company's flagship products the iPhone, iPad and MacBook among consumers. Apple is also embroiled in acrimonious lawsuits over Google Inc's Android players as the two camps battle for market share.

Lawsuits, especially patent disputes, are common in the technology sector as makers seek to protect their newest technologies from being commoditized and exploited by rivals. But most are settled out of court as big companies prefer to avoid long fights and patented technology can be out of date by the time a case is over.

(Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Chris Lewis)

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