What the world needs now is less lawsuits and more innovation, and it looks like we’re about to get some of that first one, and possibly a bit more of the latter, as Samsung and Apple decide to call it quits on the lawsuits. At least for now.
This news is hot and very short, but we have word this week that Samsung and Apple’s on-going lawsuits are finally done and dusted, with Samsung releasing a statement saying the following:
“Samsung and Apple have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States. This agreement does not involve any licensing arrangements, and the companies are continuing to pursue the existing cases in U.S. courts.”
That means that Samsung and Apple in places like Australia and Germany aren’t spending ridiculous amounts of money on lawyers to attack the various patents, at least here on in.
While this could mean technological innovation can occur without fear of legal drama, we’re more hopeful that in the short term we’ll see changes to some of the devices that were locked down without any real reason.
In June, we saw Samsung’s Galaxy S5 regain control of its locked dock, after Samsung decided to make the shortcut dock totally locked up for the past couple of years, halfway into the lifespan of the Galaxy S3.
Since then, there has been no official reason from the company why this has taken place, and it’s happened to every Galaxy product in Australia since then, appearing on the Galaxy S4 Zoom, Galaxy S4 Active, Galaxy Note 3, and Galaxy Mega, to name but a few, with the rumour being that this occurred due to Apple’s on-going lawsuits.
Samsung never did confirm our suspicions, and back when it unlocked the dock, told us that it “is continuously looking for ways to improve customer experience, and we are glad to be able to provide this improved functionality for customers.”
Now that Samsung and Apple are no longer fighting, hopefully we’ll see more “improved functionality” rolled out to other handsets, and so we’ve checked with Samsung and will tell you when we know more.
