Apple settles patent dispute out of court with SimpleAir

Apple has officially settled a patent dispute that has been running since 2009, between it and a company called SimpleAir. SimpleAir filed the patent suit back in 2009 in the US District Court in the Eastern District of Texas. This particular court has turned into "the" place to file patent disputes because the judge in the court is known for siding with patent holders against big companies. Rather than go to court, Apple has settled out-of-court.

Exactly, how much money Apple forked over to SimpleAir is unknown because the terms of the deal haven't been disclosed. Apple must've had some indication that it wasn't going to win the case to consider settling out of court. The patents at the core the suit were U.S. Patent No, 6,021,433: "System and Method for Transmission of Data"; U.S. Patent No. 7,035,914: "System and Method for Transmission of Data"; U.S. Patent No. 6,735,614: "Contact Alerts for Unconnected Users"; and U.S. Patent No. 6,167,426: "Contact Alerts for Unconnected Users."

SimpleAir has earned the maligned title of patent troll in the tech community because the company has no actual products. The company simply owns patents and licenses them to other firms. Apparently, Apple isn't the only tech company SimpleAir has filed suit against either, so we will likely hear more from the company.

Apple SimpleAir joint motion after settlement

[via AppleInsider]