Top executives of Apple and Samsung will be attending a mediation session in February with the hope of settling a patent infringement dispute. Chief executives Tim Cook and Oh-Hyun Kwon and their respective company's in-house lawyers are set to meet on Feb. 19 or earlier.
The two technology giants have been battling in court over patent infringement since 2011, when Apple sued Samsung. One case has both companies throwing a series of motions to outmaneuver the other but the latest mediation is for another patent infringement case in the United States, whose trial is set to begin in March. While the cases may all be about patent infringements, they involve different products. There have also been legal tussles between the companies in Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands.
The mediator for the patent case has not been disclosed but according to a court filing on Wednesday, Apple and Samsung "agreed upon a mediator who has experience mediating high profile disputes."
For those who have not been following the legal drama between the companies, a court in California recently awarded almost a billion dollars to Apple as conclusion to the trials that kicked off in July 2012.
In December 2013, Apple demanded that Samsung should cover roughly $16 million of its legal fees that amounted to $60 million. During the same period, a court in South Korea ruled that Apple did not violate any patents held by Samsung, a decision seen by many as a big punch that hit Samsung hard.
"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. But it -- the key thing is that it's very important that Apple not become the developer for the world. We need people to invent their own stuff," Apple CEO Tim Cook said during a recent earnings release conference call.
