Garmin, TomTom Find Peace

But bidding war for Tele Atlas goes on as Garmin ponders another offer.

Author:: Scott Moritz
Publish date:: Nov 15, 2007 2:36 PM EST

Updated from 9:45.

Garmin

and Dutch rival

TomTom

say they have settled a patent dispute.

The navigation device duo did not disclose any terms of the settlement. Last year, Garmin accused upstart TomTom of intellectual property violations in a lawsuit and TomTom counter sued.

The two companies are currently in a bidding war for map data provider

Tele Atlas

. Last week, TomTom increased its all-cash bid to $43.99 a share for Tele Atlas, a 41% jump from its original offer, and 27% more than Garmin's bid of $35.92.

A Garmin representative says the company is still reviewing the possibility of increasing its offer for Tele Atlas.

The move comes just a month after mobile phone giant

Nokia

(NOK) - Get Report

said it was acquiring digital mapping shop

Navteq

(NVT) - Get Report

for $8.1 billion.

Navigation services are seen as a new big sales opportunity for wireless telcos and phone makers. At its analysts day conference in New York Wednesday,

Qualcomm

(QCOM) - Get Report

said it had looked at a possible bid for a mapping firm, but decided the price was too high.

Garmin shares fell $2.06 to $83.54 in midafternoon trading Thursday.