Apple settles with Immersion over haptic feedback licensing

In 2016, haptic technology company Immersion filed two rounds of lawsuits against Apple. Both alleged that the tech giant had infringed upon some of Immersion's patents with the first focusing on the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s and 6s Plus as well as Watch, Watch Sport and Watch Edition. The second added the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines to its complaint. Immersion also filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC), which launched an investigation into the alleged patent violations a few months later. But the saga may be nearing an end because today, Immersion announced that the two companies have reached a settlement.

Immersion says that the settlement terms are confidential and we therefore don't have a lot of details about what the agreement gets either company. Immersion does say that it's a global settlement, so it's likely, whatever the agreement is, it will apply to both companies' ventures both in and outside of the US. Apple has agreed to license some of Immersion's technology, according to the announcement, but it's unclear if all of the patents named in the two lawsuits are a part of that licensing agreement. It's also unclear if the two suits and the ITC complaint will be wiped away, but it seems unlikely that Apple would enter such an agreement without that being a stipulation.

Apple is certainly not the only company to be targeted by Immersion. The firm has previously brought lawsuits against Microsoft, Sony and Google, to name a few.