It looks like Apple and Google are closer to resolving their differences than we think.
According to Bloomberg, Apple said in a filing, “Apple is also interested in resolving its dispute with Motorola completely. Arbitration may be the best vehicle to resolve the parties’ dispute.”
Motorola Mobility also suggested the same thing back in the 5th of November, which was the same day a US judge dismissed Apple’s patent dispute against the Google-owned company.
The sudden change in atmosphere was prompted by the 10-year licensing agreement of Apple and HTC, which prevents the two from filing lawsuits against each other. The One X-maker is said to have agreed to pay Apple as much as $8 (around £5) for each HTC device sold.
According to analyst Shaw Wu, Apple originally proposed a higher fee, but agreed to the lower fee in the end since it’s more expensive to file lawsuits against rival companies. Wu estimates that HTC may be paying the iPhone-maker anywhere from $180 million (around £113 million) to $280 million (around £176 million) per year.
If ever Apple and Google would opt to do the same, arbitration would be more complicated since Google now owns 17,000 of Motorola’s patents.
Google is more interested in a global framework for patents.
Kent Walker, Google’s General Counsel said in a letter addressed to Apple on the 13th of November that was filed in court, “We have long sought a path to resolving patent issues and we welcome the chance to build on the constructive dialogue between our companies.
“While we prefer to seek a framework for a global (rather than piecemeal) resolution that addresses all of our patent disputes, we are committed to reaching agreement on a license for our respective standard-essential patents.”
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