HP, Acer Settle Patent Dispute

— -- PC vendors Hewlett-Packard and Acer on Monday announced the settlement of all patent disputes between them, putting to rest three federal court cases and two investigations by the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Neither company disclosed the terms of the settlement.

A patent war erupted between the two companies last year after HP filed patent suits against Acer accusing the Taiwanese PC vendor of infringing on at least 10 HP patents and sought to block Acer PC imports to the U.S.

Acer fired back with a patent suit of its own. The company alleged HP infringed its antenna and DVD-ROM head technology patents. The suit was filed in the same court as the HP lawsuits against Acer, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Some analysts saw the patent litigation as just another arena of competition between the two companies. HP is the world's largest PC vendor, while Acer is the fastest growing among the top five. Last year, Acer leaped took the number three spot ahead of Lenovo, but still behind HP and Dell.