Gateway to pay to settle disputes with Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard and Gateway, leading PC manufacturers in the United States have announced their decision to settle their differences over patent disputes. The two companies said that they have decided to settle all outstanding patent litigation and Gateway would be paying Hewlett-Packard a total of $47 million. They would also be revising their 2005 results to reflect the deal.

This news means that the two companies have now settled claims in three federal court lawsuits, three International Trade Commission investigations, and one state court suit. HP has sued Gateway asserting that they broke 27 patents. Gateway in return claimed that HP infringed on 13 patents.

HP had said that their patents included technologies related to a range of core computer functions, such as power management, cursor control, keyboard functions, and peripheral device interfaces. Joe Beyers, HP’s vice president of intellectual property licensing added on this announcement: “I think Gateway finally realized HP was in a very strong position and it would have cost them more to wait.”

Gateway representative David Hallisey added: “It was just a sound business decision for shareholders. We’re really happy to put it behind us.”