Apple and Samsung have been going at it seemingly forever in the battle of ‘who infringed who’s patent.’ Recently, both companies have expressed an interest in settling their differences by way of mediation, which is set to begin on May 21 and 22. In this mediation, both tech giants are to discuss possible settlements to their IP differences, and to draw up for the judge presiding over it “a candid evaluation of the parties’ likelihood of prevailing on the claims and defenses.”
Even though talks are in development at this time, it doesn’t guarantee discussions will result in a settlement between the two. Tim Cook has said that he dislikes litigation, but he won’t stand for what Apple has called “slavish” design copying orchestrated by Samsung.
After Apple’s rockstar second quarter, which had the Cupertino-based company selling over 35 million iPhones and 12 million iPads during the quarter, Tim Cook during Apple’s earnings call said, “I’ve always hated litigation, and I continue to hate it.” He also added “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 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.”
Judging the quote, Tim Cook seems like any other reasonable dude who wants to make money and not to have to worry about copycats. That being said, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if talks de-escalate, lets find out what happens at the end of May.
[via AllThingsD]