Apple Drops Samsung Galaxy S III Mini From Patent Lawsuit

(RTTNews.com) - Apple Inc. ( AAPL ) has agreed to withdraw Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's (SSNLF) Galaxy S III Mini smartphone from its ongoing patent-infringement lawsuit against the South Korean company, according to media reports on Friday, citing court filings.

Apple agreed to drop patent infringement claims against the smartphone because Samsung reportedly assured the court that the phone will not be sold in the U.S.

According to media reports, Apple said in a court filing that it withdrew the Galaxy S III Mini, "given Samsung's representation that it is not making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing that product into the United States." However, Apple reportedly added that its lawyers were able to purchase multiple units of the Galaxy S III Mini from Amazon.com Inc.'s ( AMZN ) U.S. site.

In November, Apple had asked to add six new Samsung devices, including the Galaxy S III Mini, to its wide-ranging patent litigation against Samsung. The additional patent infringement accusations were seen as a response to Samsung's filed court complaint against the iPad mini that alleged the 7.9-inch tablet unlawfully infringes on eight of Samsung's patented technologies.

Samsung and Apple, who are both rivals and partners in the mobile phone business, have been locked in disputes over design and technology patent suits in four continents since April 2011.

In early September, Apple won a case at the U.S. International Trade Commission or ITC brought by Samsung over patented technology in the iPhone and the iPad tablet computer, its second U.S. legal victory in a month over its smartphone competitor.

Apple has already won a first round in court between the two competitors back in August. Samsung was fined $1.049 billion in damages for violating Apple patents on hardware design. The next round in court will focus mostly on software. The case is set to go to trial in 2014.

AAPL closed Friday's trading at $509.59, down $5.47 or 1.06 percent on a volume of 12.65 million shares.