Apple and Google have been in a technology cold war since 2011, when CEO Steve Jobs claimed he would go to "thermonuclear war" with Android and spend all $40 billion of Apple's savings to destroy the rival OS.

This never happened, but the relations between the two companies have not been good. Apple replaced Google's YouTube and Maps apps on iOS with alternatives, and rapidly removed all traces of Google from iOS.

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Apple has also sued companies like Samsung and HTC for various patent damages, but all under the shroud of attacking Google. Several patents have been for software patents, something Google's Android would have to answer for, not Samsung.

Yet, Google and Apple have not met face-to-face in a courtroom. Instead, it has been Apple vs. Google's partners or Google vs. Apple's patent negotiator Rockstar Consortium. Apple, Microsoft, Sony Ericcson and others banded together to create the patent troll, with Apple leading the charge with a $2.6 billion stake in the company.

The Rockstar Consortium owns various Nortel patents, which involve telecommunications and other mobile features. Even with the battle elongated to three years, Apple's own decisive victory has been against Samsung, where the South Korean mobile giant had to pay $1 billion, although this was reduced by half later in 2013.

It looks like Apple and others have finally given up on Rockstar and fighting patent battles. Apple is reforming the way it uses patents, with a patent reform bill in 2015. Google has never been the aggressor on these court cases, and will be glad to settle.

Most court cases are being settled for minimal amounts. Cisco settled with Rockstar for $188 million, a far cry from the original amount Rockstar was looking to get. The investors in Rockstar are looking to wind down the patent consortium.

This will likely mean Rockstar will die in the hands of Apple and the rest of the consortium. Apple's new CEO Tim Cook has shown an effort to reform the company's aggressive legal moves against other tech companies, and this may mean an end to the court cases plaguing the tech community over the past three years.

Tags Steve Jobs, Tim Cook, Rockstar Consortium