Sony and LG end patent war, sign licensing deal
Sony and LG have decided to stop suing each other over alleged patent infringements and have reportedly signed a cross-licensing deal instead.
In a statement sent to ZDNet UK on Thursday, Sony said that "Sony, LG Electronics and Zenith Electronics [an LG brand] have reached an agreement on the basic settlement terms regarding all the pending patent litigations which the parties have filed since October 2010 in the US and the EU, and have agreed to withdraw all of these litigations".
Reuters also reported on Wednesday that LG said it and Sony had signed a cross-licensing deal. The companies had such a deal before, but failed to renew it three years ago, sparking a multifaceted legal battle.
Sony attacked LG for allegedly infringing on its smartphone patents, and went to the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to seek an import ban. LG did the same over the Playstation 3's apparent use of LG Blu-ray patents.
LG managed to score a direct hit on Sony in March, when tens of thousands of PS3s were seized in the Netherlands, due to a temporary EU import ban.