Samsung, Microsoft end patent dispute

San Francisco — Microsoft and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd have settled a contract dispute over patent royalties, though terms of the settlement are confidential, Microsoft said in a statement on Monday.

Microsoft sued Samsung last year in a federal court in New York, accusing Samsung of breaching a collaboration agreement by initially refusing to make royalty payments after the US company announced its intention to acquire Nokia’s handset business in September 2013.

The lawsuit claimed Samsung still owed $6.9 million in interest on more than $1 billion in patent royalties it delayed paying.  Samsung has countered that the Nokia acquisition violated its 2011 collaboration deal with Microsoft.  In 2011 a technology analyst at Citigroup estimated that Microsoft was getting $5 per Android handset sold by phone maker HTC under a patent agreement, and that Microsoft was looking for up to $12.50 per phone from other handset makers it had yet to come to an agreement.