Apple and OpenTV parent company Kudelski Group settled an ongoing patent battle on Tuesday, by agreeing to a “comprehensive patent license.” Apple will pay a licensing fee for access to a suite of media streaming patents. Under the terms of the agreement, both parties agreed to dismiss all pending litigation. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed.
OpenTV filed a complaint in the Northern District of California court systen in May 2015, seeking compensation or royalties, as well as supplemental damages for willful infringement. The five patents involved in the suit were awarded in the late 1900s to the early 2000s, and became the property of the Kudelski Group’s following their purchase of the OpenTV company in 2010. The complaint involved Apple’s iTunes, and how it stored, secured, and distributed content to consumers.
In a March 2016 ruling, the The Dusseldorf District Court came down in favor of OpenTV, and ruled that infringing products must not be sold in Germany. While that ban was being appealed, Tuesday’s agreement lifts the potential ban as part of said agreement.
Apple is not the only company to make use of the disputed technologies, as the core tech is also used by DISH Network interactive shopping, QVC real-time shopping, and more. A number of companies, including Cisco, Disney, and Google, have already licensed the technology from the Kudelski Group, and the firm has a number of other cases still pending against other companies.
(Via AppleInsider)
