In a protracted legal battle with Samsung that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs himself once dubbed a "thermonuclear war," the two mobile phone makers have now decided to finally settle a seven-year-old patent dispute that unfolded in courtrooms around the globe.

The Wednesday settlement comes weeks after the two sides went head-to-head in their fourth trial in a federal courtroom in San Jose, California. They have decided to bury the hatchet once and for all.

The May 2018 trial dealt specifically with design patents, which cover the look of the iPhone's outer shell, software icons, among other features.

In the end, Apple won a $539 million jury award during that retrial.

The San Jose trial came after Samsung had appealed to the US Supreme Court, which agreed in a December 2016 opinion that a company found to have infringed patents did not have to give up all profits made from a specific product.

Neither Apple nor Samsung immediately responded to Ars' request for comment. Terms of the new settlement were not disclosed.