Following quite literally years of appeals and retrials, Samsung is finally paying Apple the $548,176,477 it owes for infringing on patents owned by the Cupertino company.

Four months before the fifth anniversary of the original complaint, Apple will receive the money from Samsung by December 14 — with Apple and Samsung filing a joint case management statement with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, stating that Samsung, “has made arrangements to complete payment to Apple.”

If you thought this was all over, though… well, let’s just say that you’re a bit naive. Samsung notes that it:

“[C]ontinues to reserve all rights to obtain reimbursement from Apple and/or payment by Apple of all amounts required to be paid as taxes. […] Samsung further reserves all rights to reclaim or obtain reimbursement of any judgment amounts paid by Samsung to any entity in the event the partial judgment is reversed, modified, vacated or set aside on appeal or otherwise, including as a result of any proceedings before the USPTO addressing the patents at issue or as a result of any petition for writ of certiorari filed with the Supreme Court. Samsung notes that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has issued a final decision of invalidity on the ‘915 Patent, and Apple filed a notice of appeal to the Federal Circuit in the USPTO last week.”

If you don’t speak dense legal document-ese, essentially what this means is that if, for whatever reason, a judge later overturns the decision against Samsung, Apple may have to pay the money back. Apple, meanwhile, notes that it, “disputes Samsung’s asserted rights to reimbursement.”

Given that the battle between the two companies rages on, today’s news won’t equal peace in our time by any means. Still, it’s nice to know that — provided Apple invoices for the money ASAP — Tim Cook won’t be struggling to afford Christmas gifts for his friends and family this year.

Source: FOSSpatents