Samsung, Apple agree to drop patent lawsuits outside U.S.

Samsung Electronics and Apple have decided to withdraw patent lawsuits outside the U.S. The rival firms agreed to end all 30 patent disputes in nine countries including Korea, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, the U.K., France, Italy, Spain and Australia. They will however continue to fight it out in the U.S.

The announcement has raised mixed responses within the IT industry. Some critics say there might be changes between the two smartphone giants, which have been in a patent war since April 2011 when Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics in the U.S. court.

There were earlier signs that tensions had eased between two companies. In June, the two dropped their appeals to International Trade Commission. And late last month, Apple announced it would drop its appeal on its first suit in the U.S. In this regard, the announcement is a lessening of corporate hostilities after years of bitter patent disputes. A source from the IT industry said, "There is a shared feeling in the industry that changes are being made between the rival companies` patent suits."

However, others say the two companies are still far from making a full-fledged improvement in relations. They cite the ongoing patent disputes in the U.S. that make it difficult to attach significant meaning. They say the two companies are trying to focus on suits that will bring actual value by dropping ineffective ones. At the first lawsuit in March this year, the court had ruled Samsung pay 930 million U.S. dollars to Apple. Though Apple withdrew its appeals, Samsung has but to continue the lawsuit since it is responsible for paying the fine.

Regarding the second suit, the jury at the first trial in May judged that both companies partially infringed on each other`s patents. Apple demanded compensation of 2.19 billion dollars to Samsung, and the jury told Samsung to pay 119.63 million dollars. Both companies will decide their stance after court ruling.

According to U.S. research firm Strategy Analytics, Samsung Electronics grabbed the biggest share in the North American mobile market in the second quarter of this year. This contrasts to Samsung losing its No. 1 market share to Xiaomi and Micromax in the Chinese and Indian smartphone markets, respectively, during the same period.

Strategy Analytics said Samsung Electronics` U.S. smartphone market share stood at 36.2 percent, surpassing Apple at 27.9 percent. This is the highest figure for Samsung in the North American market. Samsung Electronics will release Galaxy Note 4 and Apple iPhone 6 on September 3 and 9, respectively.