Apple and headphone-maker Koss have reportedly settled a patent dispute relating to the wireless technology used in AirPods and some Beats accessories.
The dispute, which was set to go to trial this week at the Waco, Texas federal court, has now ended with the two companies saying that "they had resolved allegations that Apple infringed Koss' wireless-headphone patents" according to Reuters. The settlement was confirmed this past weekend.
Few details about the settlement have been made available, but we do know that Koss has also gone after Bose and Skullcandy for their use of technology that it believes it holds the patents for. Those cases continue and are unrelated to this news.
Koss had previously asked for royalties from the sale of AirPods and similar accessories after saying that its technology had "become standardized, with whole listening ecosystems having been built around the techniques Koss conceived of over a decade ago." That's why, it says, it turned to litigation relating to technology it first devised back in the early 2000s.
Suit and countersuit
Prior to this latest news, Apple had said that it did not infringe upon any Koss patents and went a step further by suing the company in San Francisco. That suit related to claims that the discussions with Koss saw the headphone-maker leak confidential information.
Now, both companies say that "all matters in controversy between them." The case reference was Koss Corp v. Apple Inc, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, and carried case number 6:20-cv-00665.
AirPods and AirPods Pro are some of the best iPhone, Mac, and iPad earbuds on the market thanks to the way they instantly pair with, and switch between devices. The same can be said for many Beats products that also use Apple's wireless technology — a key differentiator over audio accessories that don't offer the same level of integration.
Noise-cancellation comes to Apple's popular AirPods true-wireless earbud line up.
