<p class="title">Apple and Samsung have ended a years-long patent battle over copied iPhone design with an undisclosed settlement, according to a US court filing on Thursday.</p>.<p class="title">The world's two biggest smartphone makers reached a truce in their seven-year-old court battle a month after a federal court jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple some $539 million for copying patented iPhone features.</p>.<p class="bodytext">That award was seen as a victory for Apple, which had argued in court that design was essential to the iPhone.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Financial terms of the settlement were not revealed and neither company elaborated on the brief court order which dismissed the litigation dating back to 2011.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Whereas the court has been advised by the parties that the above-entitled action has been settled, all remaining claims and counterclaims in this case are hereby dismissed with prejudice," US District Court Judge Lucy Koh wrote.</p>.<p class="bodytext">When contacted for comment, Apple referred to a statement released last month after the jury announced the damages award.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This case has always been about more than money," the statement read.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It is important that we continue to protect the hard work and innovation of so many people at Apple. South Korea-based Samsung declined to comment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Apple's lawsuit claimed Samsung, now the world's biggest handset maker, copied the design and other features of the iPhone as the smartphone market was exploding. The case was keenly watched as a precedent for whether design is so important that it could actually be considered the "article of design" even in a product as complex as a smartphone.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The case had been sent back to the district court following a Supreme Court decision to revisit an earlier $400 million damage award.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The jury had been asked to determine whether design features at issue in the case are worth all profit made from Samsung smartphones that copied them -- or whether those features are worth just a fraction because they are components.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The three design patents in the case apply to the shape of the iPhone's black screen with rounded edges and a bezel, and the rows of colorful icons displayed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Two utility patents also involved apply to "bounce-back" and "tap-to-zoom" functions.</p>.<p class="bodytext">An original trial finding that Samsung violated Apple patents preceded a lengthy appellate dueling over whether design features such as rounded edges are worth all the money made from a phone.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The retrial regarding damages was one element of a $548 million penalty -- knocked down from an original $1 billion jury award -- Samsung was ordered to pay for copying iPhone patents.</p>
<p class="title">Apple and Samsung have ended a years-long patent battle over copied iPhone design with an undisclosed settlement, according to a US court filing on Thursday.</p>.<p class="title">The world's two biggest smartphone makers reached a truce in their seven-year-old court battle a month after a federal court jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple some $539 million for copying patented iPhone features.</p>.<p class="bodytext">That award was seen as a victory for Apple, which had argued in court that design was essential to the iPhone.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Financial terms of the settlement were not revealed and neither company elaborated on the brief court order which dismissed the litigation dating back to 2011.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Whereas the court has been advised by the parties that the above-entitled action has been settled, all remaining claims and counterclaims in this case are hereby dismissed with prejudice," US District Court Judge Lucy Koh wrote.</p>.<p class="bodytext">When contacted for comment, Apple referred to a statement released last month after the jury announced the damages award.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This case has always been about more than money," the statement read.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It is important that we continue to protect the hard work and innovation of so many people at Apple. South Korea-based Samsung declined to comment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Apple's lawsuit claimed Samsung, now the world's biggest handset maker, copied the design and other features of the iPhone as the smartphone market was exploding. The case was keenly watched as a precedent for whether design is so important that it could actually be considered the "article of design" even in a product as complex as a smartphone.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The case had been sent back to the district court following a Supreme Court decision to revisit an earlier $400 million damage award.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The jury had been asked to determine whether design features at issue in the case are worth all profit made from Samsung smartphones that copied them -- or whether those features are worth just a fraction because they are components.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The three design patents in the case apply to the shape of the iPhone's black screen with rounded edges and a bezel, and the rows of colorful icons displayed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Two utility patents also involved apply to "bounce-back" and "tap-to-zoom" functions.</p>.<p class="bodytext">An original trial finding that Samsung violated Apple patents preceded a lengthy appellate dueling over whether design features such as rounded edges are worth all the money made from a phone.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The retrial regarding damages was one element of a $548 million penalty -- knocked down from an original $1 billion jury award -- Samsung was ordered to pay for copying iPhone patents.</p>