Apple Has Agreed To Pay $5 million To Settle Multi-Touch Patent Dispute With Elan

According to Reuter’s report, Taiwan-based company Elan Microelectronics has announced a settlement of a patent dispute with Apple related to multi-touch technology. Elan states that Apple has agreed to cross-license some patents and pay $5 million to avoid future disputes regarding said intellectual property.

The patent infringement dispute between companies began in 2009, when Elan filed a suit against Apple over infringement of a patent describing the detection of multi-touch input on Apple’s notebooks, iOS devices and some accessories. Apple also had filed a counter-suit against Elan in 2009 to get leverage in the legal argument.

In 2010, Elan turned to the International Trade Commission in the US, seeking to ban imports of Apple’s devices, but the ITC found in Apple’s favor in 2011.