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HTC and Nokia on Friday said that they would settle their legal differences over disputed patents, just the latest in a recent trend of surprising camaraderie between tech companies.
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Under the agreement, the two companies will end all their pending patent lawsuits. HTC will pay Nokia a fee — the amount of which was undisclosed — for access to Nokia’s technology and the two will collaborate on work involving HTC’s LTE patents. The companies also will look at future technology collaboration projects.
There have been a surprising number of such deals struck in recent weeks. Google and Samsung Electronics said last month that they had struck a cross-licensing deal, further aligning two of the largest players in the wireless industry. Samsung, meanwhile, inked a similar deal with Cisco Systems, believed to help it with its smart-home strategy.
HTC and Nokia have long been at odds regarding their patents, and a deal brings a bit more stability to both sides. HTC is already dealing with falling profit and revenue, as it struggles to find a way to turn itself around, while Nokia is completing the sale of its devices unit to Microsoft.
Of course, the biggest patent lawsuit in the industry — a massive fight between Apple and Samsung — remains.
But with all of these deals breaking out, perhaps there’s hope Apple and Samsung can make up too.
