Samsung and Apple have buried the hatchet-- sort of.
The two companies have agreed to end all patent lawsuits between each other outside of the U.S. after three years of legal hostilities, The Associated Press reports.
Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday, however, that they will still pursue existing cases in the U.S., and that Samsung and Apple did not strike any cross-licensing deal, according to AP.
Samsung told AP, "Samsung and Apple have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States. This agreement does not involve any licensing arrangements, and the companies are continuing to pursue the existing cases in U.S. courts."
According to AP, the announcement lessens the corporate hostilities after years of patent disputes over the intellectual property rights for mobile designs and technology. The legal disputes spanned about a dozen countries in North America, Europe and Asia.
Legal actions and lawsuits will end in countries including Germany, England, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, Japan and Australia, AP reported.
U.S. patent cases have come with bigger awards for damages than other countries, AP states. A California jury awarded Apple $119 million in May in a patent battle with Samsung. That same jury then ordered Apple to pay Samsung $158,400 for infringing one of Samsung's patents in creating the iPhone 4 and 5, AP reports.
And in a separate jury verdict in 2012, Samsung appealed after being ordered to pay Apple $930 million.
AP says some analysts believe the two companies will come to terms and sign a cross-licensing deal, following the usual pattern of patent cases in the technology industry.
Similarly, Samsung and Apple agreed in June to drop their appeals at the U.S. International Trade Commission.
However, their differences seemed to be too broken to mend other times, according to AP. The chief executives of the two companies met several times in order to discuss court settlements, after being recommended to do so by a U.S. judge.
Not all outcomes from the patent actions were damaging to the companies. During the last three years, Samsung vaulted to the leading position in the global smartphone market.
According to AP, the lawsuits between the two companies began in April of 2011 when Apple accused Samsung of copying the iPhone. Samsung then accused Apple of stealing its mobile technology.
