HP and computer manufacturer Gateway have agreed to settle three patent lawsuits that spawn a total of 27 patents.

The disputed patents covered technologies including notebook power management, a cursor display mechanism for desktop computers and keyboard functionalities with peripheral devices, HP's vice president of intellectual property licensing Joe Beyers said.

Gateway agreed to pay $47m, of which $30.3m goes towards a seven year license for HP's patent portfolio for servers and desktop computers. The remaining $16.7m is earmarked to settle the 2004 lawsuits without any admission of fault.

HP owns about 6,000 PC and server patents and in the past three years has started to more actively license and protect its intellectual property portfolio, Beyers said.

"Our desire is for companies to recognize the value of our intellectual property," said Beyers. "We prefer to avoid litigation. This is the only case where we had resort to litigation."

Beyers declined to say how many patent license deals the company has closed in the past years, citing confidentiality conditions. He did say that there are currently about 115 license negotiations under way.