After agreeing to a ceasefire with Google, Apple may soon find a way to settle all its disputes with Samsung out of court, The Korea Times has learned, as the two companies have recently agreed to resume settlement talks. This isn’t the first time Apple and Samsung have tried to solve their legal issues out of court, and put an end to a legal war that started more than three years ago, but the publication suggests things have changed since the last time they met.
“Samsung has recently resumed working-level discussions with Apple and the key issue is how to dismiss all lawsuits,” an unnamed source familiar with the matter said. “Some more time will be needed to fix terms of details such as royalty payments in return for using patents owned by each before reaching a full agreement.”
In the recently concluded second U.S. trial between Apple and Samsung, both companies were found to infringe each other’s patents, although the Korean company was the bigger loser. Samsung has to pay Apple almost $120 million following the suit, while it will receive from the iPhone maker almost $160,000 in damages. The damages were significantly lower than what each company sought – Apple asked for more than $2 billion in damages, while Samsung wanted about $6 million from Apple.
In the first Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit, Apple won almost $940 million in damages, following an appeal.
The most recent verdict in the U.S. seems to have “made things much better for the resumption of talks,” the source revealed, as Apple was found to infringe a Samsung patent as well this time around. In the first trial between the two, Apple was cleared of all patent infringement allegations.
