Beats and Bose end their patent beef

A budding feud between Bose and Beats Electronics has ended with both sides settling out of court. Although the terms haven’t been made public, according to Bose the matter has been satisfactorily “resolved” and will no longer go to trial.

Both sides have agreed to pay their own costs and legal fees, and have asked the International Trade Commission to suspend its investigation into the disagreement.

The case against Beats was brought by Bose last July, who alleged that Beats had been knowingly infringing on five of its owned patents for its Studio and Studio Wireless headphone lines. In the original filing, Bose claimed that Beats was infringing on half a century’s worth of R&D the company has put into its noise cancelling technology.

Bose was looking to claim lost profits from Beats, as well as to block the importing of Beats’ noise-cancelling headphones from China, where they are manufactured.

The news about the resolution follows reports earlier today, via Macrumors, that Apple planned to remove Bose audio products from all Apple Stores. That, in turn, may reflect another recent report stating that Beats headphones are now banned from appearing on NFL broadcasts, thanks to an exclusive deal between Bose and the football league.

Given that the Beats/Bose beef looks to have been squashed, it’s unknown whether Apple still plans to carry through on its threat.

Luke Dormehl

Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.