Apple CEO, Tim Cook and his Samsung counterpart, Choi Gee-sung have begin two days of talks in an attempt to end the patent disputes between their companies.
The talks were ordered by a US judge and come after months of court battles around the world as each company accused the other of infringing upon its patents.
Judge Joseph Spero, appointed to mediate the discussions, asked Apple and Samsung to provide a ‘a candid evaluation of the parties’ likelihood of prevailing on the claims and defenses.’
If the talk fail to reach a resolution, a US trial will begin in July. Cook told investors during a recent conference call that ‘I’ve always hated litigation, and I continue to hate it. We just want people to invent their own stuff. And so if we could get to some kind of arrangement where we could be assured that’s the case and a fair settlement on the stuff that’s occurred, I would highly prefer to settle versus battle.’
If a settlement is reached, it could involve each company licensing patents to the other, known as cross-licensing and common in the telecoms industry. But there’s a great deal of ground to cover before then. Samsung’s mobile chief, J.K. Shin told journalists yesterday that ‘there is still a big gap in the patent war with Apple but we still have several negotiation options including cross-licensing.’
