Samsung will finally pay Apple $548 million in patent dispute

After years of back and forth in the courtrooms, Samsung has finally agreed to pay Apple $548 million in a technology patent dispute.

On Thursday, Samsung and Apple filed a joint statement in California, revealing that Samsung planned to pay Apple once it received the company’s original invoice. It comes one month after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied Samsung’s petition for a rehearing on the patent dispute.

That might sound like the end of it, but in the joint statement Samsung alludes to potential refunds, if further developments in the case occur. Apple has disputed Samsung’s right for a refund.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is currently investigating a few of the design patents mentioned in the dispute. If these patents are ruled invalid, as the pinch-to-zoom patent already has been USPTO, it might ruin Apple’s chances of winning the dispute.

The two tech giants will meet in court next year to discuss the additional $382 million in packaging damages. Originally, Apple filed for $1 billion in damages, but that was chopped into $548 million in technology patents and $382 million in packaging materials — the latter will be discussed in the next court case.

Apple argues that Samsung copied the company’s packaging from 2011 onward. Samsung has denied these accusations.

Even with the rather tedious back and forth between two companies that make $500 million in a less than week, The two companies still continue to be partners. Samsung provides half of the A9 processors embedded into the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus, and iPad Pro. That might change next year however, with rumors of TSMC winning the contract for full control of all the A10 processors.