Apple and Motorola settle outstanding patent litigation

Apple and Motorola Mobility, a Google subsidiary in the process of being sold to Chinese electronics giant Lenovo, have agreed to settle all outstanding patent litigation.

Under the joint motion to dismiss without prejudice, filed with the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and first reported by Reuters, each side will bear its own costs and attorneys’ fees.

In a joint statement, republished by The Verge, there’s no patent cross-licencing agreement as part of the deal.

“Apple and Google have agreed to dismiss all the current lawsuits that exist directly between the two companies. Apple and Google have also agreed to work together in some areas of patent reform. The agreement does not include a cross license.”

In late January, Google signed an agreement to sell Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $US2.91 billion, significantly less than the $US12.5 billion it paid for the business in late 2011.

In a series of patent lawsuits, Apple has claimed Motorola has infringed on some of its designs, while Motorola has claimed Apple has infringed some of its patents covering the underlying mobile phone technology.

In June 2012, US Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner dismissed a series of lawsuits between the two companies with prejudice in order to prevent either party refiling.