HP and Gateway have kissed and made up, with Gateway agreeing to make a $47m payment to HP. The two companies fell out over patent infringement allegations made by both companies against each other in 2004, but all that has been resolved now. The agreement means that both now have a licence to use the other's intellectual property.
HP sued Gateway in March 2004, alleging the smaller company had violated six of its patents covering power management, keyboard-password functions and cursor-generation, among other technologies.
Gateway countersued the following May, alleging HP had infringed five of its patents. In the same month, HP filed a complaint with the ITC requesting it find Gateway guilty of infringing seven of its patents and that it ban the importation into the US of allegedly infringing kit.