Apple AirPods lawsuit settled just before patent trial

This is just one of two AirPods patent lawsuits Apple has been faced with in 2022

Image credit: Natalya Vilman / Getty Images

➡️ The Shortcut Skinny

• 🎧 Offense: AirPods may have violated patents of headphone maker Koss

• 🤺 Defense: Apple defended that its AirPods didn’t infringe, countersued

• 😅 Down to the wireless: Settlement news came on the eve of the trial

• 💰 Mo’ money, mo’ secrets: Settlement terms weren’t disclosed

• 🤼 Here we go again: Apple and Koss involved in other separate lawsuits

Apple is canceling the “noise” that could have come from a potentially messy AirPods lawsuit which alleged that the company violated patents of headphone manufacturer Koss. The settlement comes on the eve that the dispute was set to go to trial.

Defending its popular products – like the AirPods Pro, AirPods Max and AirPods 3 – Apple had previously said that its earbuds and headphones didn’t infringe on Koss’s 2000-era technology and that the patents were invalid, notes Reuters. It countersued Koss for violating a confidential information agreement in a licensing discussion.

• Cash in: AirPods price

In total, Koss claimed Apple violated five of its patents used in Striva in-ear and over-ear headphones. Listed out by Bloomberg Law, the patents in question cover internal microphones that react to voice prompts, headphone-touch controls, and Wi-Fi connectivity, all developed in the early 2000s. The first AirPods launched in 2016.

Neither Apple nor Koss disclosed the terms of the settlement or whether there was a new ongoing licensing agreement between the two tech companies.

What a royal-tease!

Apple and Koss face more ligation separately

Koss is using the same wireless headphone patents to sue Bose and Skullcandy, with both cases pending. The sudden settlement with Apple this week means that it’s much more likely that the Boss and Skullcandy cases won’t go to trial.

Apple isn’t out of the woods yet either. Jawbone, the defunct wearable and portable speaker company you haven’t heard about in ages, filed lawsuits in 2021 against Apple and Alphabet (Google) for royalties covering its noise canceling technology.

Out one AirPods case and in the other.

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