Intertrust Technologies Corp. has agreed to settle a year-old
patent-infringement case against Apple Inc., according to court
filings.
Terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.
Intertrust, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is a pioneer in
digital-copyright protection and has an extensive portfolio of
patents in the field. Sony Corp. and Royal Philips Electronics NV
each hold a 49.5% stake in the company, which was publicly traded
from 1999 to 2003.
Past legal battles include a suit against Microsoft Corp., which
in 2004 agreed to pay Intertrust $440 million to settle its
litigation against the software maker.
Intertrust filed its suit in March 2013, stating that it did so
after extensive discussions with Apple about various collaboration
possibilities failed to reach an agreement. Intertrust's initial
complaint alleged that Apple infringed 15 patents with products
such as the iPhone, iPad and Mac computers and laptops. Intertrust
later expanded the suit to cite 23 patents.
Apple, in court documents, denied infringing the patents and
asserted that the Intertrust patents were invalid.
The case was filed in federal court in Oakland, Calif. The two
companies informed U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers
on Tuesday that they had reached a settlement. She granted their
request to dismiss the case, which each side paying their
respective legal fees.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment. Intertrust
representatives couldn't immediately be reached.
The settlement was reported Thursday by Apple Insider.
Write to Don Clark at don.clark@wsj.com
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