Intertrust Settles Patent Suit Against Apple

Intertrust Technologies Corp. has agreed to settle a year-old patent-infringement case against Apple Inc., according to court filings.

Terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.

Intertrust, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is a pioneer in digital-copyright protection and has an extensive portfolio of patents in the field. Sony Corp. and Royal Philips Electronics NV each hold a 49.5% stake in the company, which was publicly traded from 1999 to 2003.

Past legal battles include a suit against Microsoft Corp., which in 2004 agreed to pay Intertrust $440 million to settle its litigation against the software maker.

Intertrust filed its suit in March 2013, stating that it did so after extensive discussions with Apple about various collaboration possibilities failed to reach an agreement. Intertrust's initial complaint alleged that Apple infringed 15 patents with products such as the iPhone, iPad and Mac computers and laptops. Intertrust later expanded the suit to cite 23 patents.

Apple, in court documents, denied infringing the patents and asserted that the Intertrust patents were invalid.

The case was filed in federal court in Oakland, Calif. The two companies informed U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Tuesday that they had reached a settlement. She granted their request to dismiss the case, which each side paying their respective legal fees.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment. Intertrust representatives couldn't immediately be reached.

The settlement was reported Thursday by Apple Insider.

Write to Don Clark at [e-mail]

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