Wolfgang Dehen, CEO of Osram said he was glad to enter into a new area of partnership-based competition with Samsung.
Osram and Samsung have jointly issued a press release announcing an agreement to settle of all of their worldwide patent disputes. As part of the settlement, the parties have entered into licence agreements for their respective LED patent portfolios and have signed a memorandum of understanding 'to explore the possibilities of developing LED-based products together in the future'.
Both companies have stated that the suit will be dismissed as soon as possible, and a settlement is expected to be finalised by the end of August 2012.
"We are glad to enter with Samsung in a new area of partnership-based competition. We respect the intellectual property rights of other companies and it is our ongoing policy to reach license agreements with other manufacturers of LED products. Along these lines, we appreciate this out-of-court settlement with Samsung," said Wolfgang Dehen, CEO of Osram.
Namseong Cho, executive VP and general manager of Samsung Electronics' LED Business said: "With the patent suits now behind us, we look forward to building a strategic relationship with Osram on a number of different fronts. There is a great deal of respect and also competition between the two companies. We believe the two companies now have an opportunity to significantly contribute to the LED industry and offer better products to our customers."
The case started last year when Osram filed claims against Samsung and LG Innotek for what it claimed were 'violations' of its patent on white and surface mountable LEDs in the US and Germany. However Samsung retaliated by filing a counter suit alleging that Osram infringed eight of its core LED technologies.
A spokesperson for Osram said the lighting manufacturer was 'comfortable' with the settlement while stressing that it would be wrong to 'over interpret' the agreement as the signal for even greater integration between the two manufactuters. In spite of this, news sources in Germany have continued to speculate on the deal. The country's DPA news agency reported that Samsung would pay "a considerable sum" to Osram in the out-of-court agreement. Others wondered whether the Korean manufacturer may have extricated itself from the litigation to concentrate on its larger patent fight with Apple in the smart phone and tablet computer space.
