The details of Apple and HTC’s settlement agreement are now available, in some capacity at least thanks to the ongoing dispute between Apple and Samsung. The document is heavily redacted and the information pertaining specifically to the covered products and the fees paid by either side are all blacked out. So what is legible? How about Apple’s design patents and trade dress being unavailable to HTC. By all accounts, it looks as though Apple was willing to license hardware and software patents, but nothing that revolved around anything Apple is concerned makes its products unique.
The agreement also includes sections on what Apple would consider a “cloned” device and what would constitute cloning in Apple’s eyes. In other words, HTC can license Apple’s slide-to-unlock functionality, but it can’t design the feature to look like the iPhone feature. An arbitration process is outlined in the event Apple feels HTC has released a “cloned” product.
The document also contains information regarding the royalties HTC will pay Apple, but there are no instructions for what Apple will pay HTC. It’s had to say anything is for certain given the heavy redactions, but by all accounts, money appears to be flowing one way.
The release of the agreement was ordered earlier this week by Judge Lucy Koh, who ruled that Samsung could see the document, with the restriction that pricing and royalty information be sealed. Samsung had hoped that if the Apple-HTC agreement included Apple’s design and user experience patents, it would help their ongoing legal disputes. Unfortunately, they’ll find little help with the HTC licensing agreement in those matters.
The document does note that both companies agreed to keep things under wraps, with just one press release to announce the agreement. The whole 140-page agreement is below and while the most juicy stuff contained within is likely to be redacted, there’s bound to be little tidbits of intel worth discovering. Happy reading.