HTC and Apple have just confirmed that they've settled all of their ongoing patent disputes, ending all of their lawsuits and opting into a 10-year licensing agreement. To refresh your memory, this particular saga began back on March 2nd, 2010, when Apple filed lawsuits with the International Trade Commission and US District Court. That initial filing covered 20 patents related to iOS, which it accused HTC of infringing upon, and since then it has only been an ever-expanding battle. Essentially all the juicy details of the settlement between the companies are completely under wraps, but both HTC's CEO, Peter Chou and Apple's man-in-charge, Tim Cook have issued brief words for the official joint statement (the whole of which can be seen after the break):

"We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC," said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. "We will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation. "HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation," said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC.

Notably, this settlement applies to all past and future patents for the companies, meaning we shouldn't be witnessing the two fight it out in court for years to come -- at least on the patent front. Hopefully we'll soon begin to see more of the same with other ongoing patent wars -- Apple vs. Samsung, anyone?