HTC, Apple settle patent disputes

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp. has settled with Apple Inc. on their outstanding patent disputes.

In a joint statement issued Sunday, the two companies said they also had signed a 10-year licence agreement that will extend to current and future patents held by one another.

Apple and HTC had battled patents over various smartphone features since March 2010, with the Cupertino, Calif.-based firm accusing HTC of infringing on its patents on phones that use Google's Android operating system.

Ending the litigation will allow HTC to focus more on product innovation,chief executive Peter Chou said.

HTC has grown as the first maker of phones running on Android software. But its sales faltered from the second half of 2011 in a market increasingly divided between Apple and Samsung Electronics Co.