Apple has agreed to withdraw all patent lawsuits against Samsung Galaxy S3 mini after the South Korean manufacture committed not to sell the device in the U.S. Apple cannot sue the smartphone if it is not sold in U.S.; however, Samsung's intentions for the device remained unclear until the truce agreement was revealed.
The Cupertino tech giant revealed the agreement in a filing in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, Friday. At the time when the patent war was heating up between the two tech titans, Apple had asked the court to add Galaxy S3 Mini to its wide-ranging patent lawsuits against Samsung. The litigation includes many of Samsung's high-end products. Responding to Apple charges, Samsung said they do not intent to make Galaxy S III Mini available for sale in the U.S. and so, the device should not be included in the case, Reuters reported.
According to an agreement filing reported by Reuters, Samsung said that it was not "making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing the Galaxy S III Mini in the United States." The announcement was made in response to an Apple allegation that its lawyers were able to purchase "multiple units" of the device in question from Amazon.com's U.S. retail site. They said the devices were then delivered in the United States. Agreeing to the Samsung's statement, Apple said it will withdraw its existing patent lawsuits on Mini, "so long as the current withdrawal will not prejudice Apple's ability later to accuse the Galaxy S III Mini if the factual circumstances change."
Earlier this year, Apple had won a $1.05 billion verdict against Samsung; however, it failed to win a permanent sales ban on many of its models. The patents Apple is asserting against the Galaxy S III Mini are different from those that went to trial. Samsung began selling the device in Europe in October to compete with Apple's iPhone 5.
