Apple has insisted inclusion of an anti-cloning provision in every potential patent litigation settlement with Samsung, according to a recent court filing.
Both Apple and Samsung are gearing up for a second U.S. patent trial that is slated to begin on March 31. The court had requested them to at least make an attempt to reach a settlement before that date.
In a court filing, Apple has consistently included a "anti-cloning" provision in its settlement talks with rival Samsung and also disputed claims that the iPhone maker offered a settlement that lacked such a provision.
"Samsung incorrectly claims [in its opposition to Apple's motion] that Apple made recent offers to Samsung without anti-cloning provisions. Every offer Apple made to Samsung has included limits to both the scope of any license and a prohibition against cloning Apple products," wrote B.J. Watrous, Apple's chief intellectual property counsel in a filing late last week with the US District Court for Northern California.
In fact, the crux of Apple's patent complaint with Samsung has always been to stop the South Korean conglomerate from cloning Apple's patented designs and technology. Apple believes that Samsung is enjoying success because it copied Apple's patented designs and technology and, therefore, for obvious reasons Apple would like to reach a settlement only with "anti-cloning" provision.
In spite of winning the first patent case against Samsung in 2012, Apple was denied a permanent sales injunction against Samsung's infringing products. Apple has appealed the decision in the Federal Circuit.
The chief executives of the both companies have agreed to meet with a mediator to resolve the ongoing patent disputes before March 31 and the mediation is scheduled to take place by Feb. 21.
