Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd and Apple, Inc. are starting to tone down their noisy disputes over global patents.

The two market leaders released a joint statement agreeing to drop all lawsuits against each other in South Korea, Italy, Australia, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan and France.

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The agreement indicates that Samsung and Apple are about to end their never-ending and nasty worldwide patent battles. Analysts believe this turnaround seems to have started with the booming market for touch screen smartphones.

Apple accused Samsung of copying its iPhone designs. On the other hand, Samsung sued Apple for using parts of its wireless transmission technology without permission.

Sales of both Apple and Samsung didn't drop despite the lawsuits. Court judges repeatedly prompted both companies to settle their disputes instead of suing each other.

InJune, both companies agreed to cancel their appeals in a patent infringement case at the U.S. International Trade Commission. The lawsuit caused an import ban on some of Samsung's older mobile phones.

Google and Apple also agreed to drop cases related to Motorola Mobility.

The statement, however, said both companies are not ending their legal battles in the United States completely. They have not agreed on any cross-licensing agreement.

Meanwhile, mobile phone sales of Lenovo Group Ltd. and Chinese mobile vendor Huawei Technologies Co. are going strong globally. Both firms offer feature-packed smartphones at cheaper prices.

Tagspatent-infringement, Apple Inc., patent lawsuit, mobile vendor, phone maker