Samsung (kind of) agrees to pay Apple $548 million for infringing its patents

After almost five years of legal sparring, Samsung has agreed to pay Apple for infringing upon its iPhone design patents.

In a joint court statement, Samsung says it will pay Apple the $548 million it owes by December 14th. Humorously, the South Korean company stipulates it needs to receive an invoice from Apple prior to the weekend before it will send the money.

The court document includes another caveat from Samsung, noting, “Samsung continues to reserve all rights to obtain reimbursement from Apple”. In other words, Samsung hasn’t thrown in the towel just yet.

In fact, it’s almost certain we’ll hear about it in the future. This summer, Samsung plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take one final and authoritative look at the case. According to Florian Mueller, a noted patent lawyer, if the court agrees to look at the case, there will be a retrial. Moreover, Mueller goes on to note that the U.S., Patent Office is considering revoking one of the patents Apple built its case around.

[source]U.S. District Court (PDF)[/source][via]FOSS Patents[/via]