Apple and Samsung to Restart Top Tier Meeting for Settlement
According to a new report this morning, Samsung Electronics and Apple will restart top tier efforts to try and meet a court-ordered Jan. 8 deadline to find an amicable solution to their patent dispute. U.S. federal judge Lucy H. Koh, who presided over the case, ordered such a meeting. Insiders close to the case added that Samsung's mobile chief and CEO Shin Jong-kyun and Apple's Tim Cook will meet soon.
While Samsung publically stated that "We've acknowledged that Samsung Electronics is suggested by the judge Koh for substantial progress in peace talks. But we have no further comments about the issue." Yet according to one Korean source close to the matter stated that Samsung's "CEO Shin will fly to the U.S. next month or in January for talks with Cook."
An industry expert said that Samsung is not in a position to reject the court's suggestion, speculating that the two could probably meet during the International Consumer Electronics Show to be held in January in Las Vegas.
The second round of trial hearings will mainly cover the latest products made by the companies and will start from March next year. The two firms agreed to file a proposal for peace talks by Jan. 8 to the San Jose court in California.
Another industry insider stated that "Conditions are set for Apple to step back from its earlier stiffer demands in royalties from Samsung. Samsung still thinks that Apple is asking too much in royalty payments. If Apple's new offer protects Samsung's pride, then the peace talks may yield some visible returns." To date, the companies have met officially three times to negotiate a solution without success.
Between May 21 and May 22 last year, Samsung Vice Chairman and the head of its corporate planning office Choi Gee-sung met with the Apple CEO in San Francisco and held marathon peace talks for 17 hours, however, the meeting ended without a result.
In July last year, Choi flew to the United States for additional mediation talks with Apple, while talks over the phone with the Apple CEO, suggested by the San Jose court, failed.
On Tuesday, the latest chapter opened in the courtroom in San Jose. Koh will begin selecting a jury to calculate how much Samsung owes Apple for infringing Apple's patents on 13 older Samsung devices.
The judge halved Samsung's payment to Apple after deciding that an earlier trial in California wrongly calculated damages. After that, Koh ordered a new jury to calculate damages due on those products.
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