Given the task definition and input, reply with output. In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.

(Reuters) - Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Wednesday settled a seven-year patent dispute over Apple’s allegations that Samsung violated its patents by “slavishly” copying the design of the iPhone. 
  
 FILE PHOTO: The Apple Inc. logo is shown outside the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, U.S., June 13, 2016. REUTERS/Stephen Lam/File Photo 
  
 Terms of the settlement, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, were not available. 
  
 In May, a U.S. jury awarded Apple $539 million, after Samsung had previously paid Apple $399 million to compensate for patent infringement. Samsung would need to make an additional payment to Apple of nearly $140 million if the verdict was upheld. 
  
 How much, if anything, Samsung must now pay Apple under Wednesday’s settlement could not immediately be learned. 
  
 FILE PHOTO: The logo of Samsung Electronics is seen at its office building in Seoul, South Korea, March 23, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo 
  
 An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the terms of the settlement but said Apple “cares deeply about design” and that “this case has always been about more than money.” A Samsung spokeswoman declined to comment. 
  
 Apple and Samsung are rivals for the title of world’s largest smartphone maker, and the dollar sums involved in the decision are unlikely to have an impact on either’s bottom line. But the case has had a lasting impact on U.S. patent law. 
  
 After a loss at trial, Samsung appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In December 2016, the court sided unanimously with Samsung’s argument that a patent violator does not have to hand over the entire profit it made from stolen designs if those designs covered only certain portions of a product but not the entire object. 
  
 But when the case went back to lower court for trial this year, the jury sided with Apple’s argument that, in this specific case, Samsung’s profits were attributable to the design elements that violated Apple’s patents. 
  
 Michael Risch, a professor of patent law at Villanova University, said that because of the recent verdict the settlement likely called for Samsung to make an additional payment to Apple. 
  
 But he said there was no clear winner in the dispute, which involved hefty legal fees for both companies. While Apple scored a major public relations victory with an initial $1 billion verdict in 2012, Samsung also obtained rulings in its favor and avoided an injunction that would have blocked it from selling phones in the U.S. market, Risch said. ||||| Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. have quietly settled a dispute over Apple’s design patents, putting an end to a costly, yearslong fight that tested some of the central claims of design theft and patent infringement. 
  
 The companies declined to comment on the terms of the out-of-court settlement, which comes nearly four years after they agreed to dismiss all patent disputes outside the U.S. 
  
 In... ||||| Apple and Samsung just ended their epic seven-year legal patent infringement fight. 
  
 The two companies agreed to a settlement in the case, according to court documents filed Wednesday, but did not disclose the terms. 
  
 The settlement closes a dispute that started in 2011 when Apple accused Samsung (SSNLF) of "slavishly" copying the iPhone's design and software features. A jury awarded Apple (AAPL) $539 million in May, leaving Samsung with an outstanding balance of $140 million it owed Apple. It was not clear Wednesday how much more, if anything, Apple will receive. 
  
 Litigating the case cost the two world's two largest smartphone makers hundreds of millions of dollars and resulted in several rulings and appeals. In 2012, a jury ruled that Samsung must pay Apple more than $1 billion for copying various hardware and software features of the iPhone and iPad. A federal judge later reduced that penalty by $450 million. 
  
 Their fight eventually landed in the Supreme Court, which in 2016 reversed an appeals court ruling that Samsung must pay $399 million for patent infringement. Justices sent the case back to the lower court to sort out the financial penalty. 
  
 Related: In tech, patents are trophies -- and these companies are dominating 
  
 A representative for Apple declined to comment beyond referring CNNMoney to a statement the company released last month following the jury award. 
  
 "This case has always been about more than money," the company said at the time. "Apple ignited the smartphone revolution with iPhone and it is a fact that Samsung blatantly copied our design. It is important that we continue to protect the hard work and innovation of so many people at Apple." 
  
 Samsung declined to comment. 
  
 Ultimately, jurors found Samsung had infringed on the majority of the patents in question -- including software features like double-tap zooming and scrolling. Many devices also infringed on hardware style or icon setup. Although "Apple won most of the battles," Samsung found way to "design around" the patents Apple claimed it copied, said Michael Risch, a patent law professor at Villanova University. 
  
 "One lesson is consumers will drive tech more than patents. Samsung went where it thought consumers wanted ... and Apple stayed with its distinctive smaller shape for a much longer period than Samsung," Risch said. "Sometimes patent can drive innovation in ways we may not have expected." |||||

An epic legal battle between smartphone titans is finally over. Apple and Samsung have settled their seven-year patent dispute over Apple’s allegations that Samsung copied the iPhone’s design and software, reports CNN. Terms were not available, but according to the Wall Street Journal, the companies filed a notice in California federal court that they had agreed to settle the case. Apple was awarded $539 million in May by a US jury; prior to the award, Samsung had already paid Apple $399 million, so Samsung had an outstanding payment of $140 million, according to Reuters. It was unclear how this week’s ruling would affect that settlement. The battle between the world’s two largest smartphone makers has already cost both companies hundreds of millions in legal fees. In 2012, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple more than $1 billion for iPhone and iPad patent infringement, but that penalty was later reduced to $450 million by a federal judge. Apple declined to comment on the agreement, but an Apple rep referred CNN to a company statement released last month that said, "Apple ignited the smartphone revolution with iPhone and it is a fact that Samsung blatantly copied our design. It is important that we continue to protect the hard work and innovation of so many people at Apple."