Samsung and Apple are finally agreeing to settle on damages for a long-running patent dispute between the two companies that started five years ago.

The dispute started when Apple accused Samsung of "slavishly" copying their iPhone, setting off a patent battle between the two tech giants. However, despite the companies letting go of all non-US cases, the two main disputes still have a long way to go, as noted by Bloomberg.

Samsung, in a court filing on Thursday, noted that it will pay the court-ordered $548 million to Apple, but only because an appeals court refused to block the judgment order. The case revolved around Apple's designs for the iPhone, as well as their "pinch-to-zoom" technology, whose patent has already been invalidated by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Still, Apple is challenging the case.

A second trial involved Apple's slide-to-unlock feature, autocorrect, and quicklink features of the iPhone, and the appeals court specializing in patent law said that Apple can get an order that could block Samsung from using the said inventions. Samsung -- with the backing of Google, Facebook, HTC, and Ebay -- on the other hand, is asking the court to reconsider such a decision, saying that the ruling is uncertain and has enabled patent owners to extract large settlements.

Danielle Meister Cohen, spokeswoman for Samsung, said in a statement via CNet, "We are disappointed that the court has agreed to proceed with Apple's grossly exaggerated damages claims regardless of whether the patents are valid."

She went on, "While we've agreed to pay Apple, we remain confident that our products do not infringe on Apple's design patents, and we will continue to take all appropriate measures within the legal system to protect our products and our intellectual property."

The reason Samsung is paying the obscene amount is merely to avoid daily interest from accruing and increasing its costs, said a patent lawyer not involved in the case. The Korean company, however, noted that it will pursue for reimbursement if the PTO invalidates the patents and if the Supreme Court takes up their requests for review.

An analyst at research company, IDC, said about the long-overdue case, "These two companies have a lot of money, there's a lot of bad blood and there's this historic grudge match. There's still plenty of room for more lawyers to make more money ahead."

The Thursday filing had the two sides meet with a judge in a settlement conference. Both companies will take this further in court.