Court documents submitted Saturday indicate Apple settled a patent-infringement lawsuit related to AirPods with audio manufacturer Koss.
The company had accused the maker of AirPods and Beats earbuds and headphones of infringing on Koss wireless headphone technology patents.
Apple settles patent-infringement dispute with Koss over wireless headphone technology
Koss said AirPods and Beats wireless headphones violated a handful of patents related to wireless headphone technology, Reuters reported Monday. Koss said it pioneered the technology.
Upon filing the lawsuit in 2020, Koss said Apple knew of its patents and that the two companies met on several occasions to discuss using them.
Then Apple decided not to license any Koss technology. And that lead Koss to sue and demand an unspecified amount of damages for the alleged infringement.
After Koss filed its lawsuit, Apple countersued and said that the allegations were “baseless.” Cupertino also maintained the patents were invalid and that the lawsuit broke a 2017 confidentiality agreement that said Koss would would not bring litigation against Apple.
They settled 2 days ahead of trial
Apple and Koss would have gone to trial Monday had they not settled out of court on Saturday. The two companies said they resolved the allegations that Apple infringed on Koss’ wireless audio patents. As a result, the case was dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning it can’t be refiled.
Right now there are no details on the settlement. But the filing indicates “all matters in controversy” have been resolved. Koss has also sued other headphone brands, including Bose and Skullcandy. Results of those lawsuits are still pending.
Neither Apple nor Koss commented on the settlement.
