Apple CEO Tim Cook is meeting today with Samsung CEO Choi Gee-sung in San Fransisco to hold court-supervised mediation discussions. The move comes after the two companies were ordered last month to try to come up with a settlement in their U.S. legal battles. Both parties are expected to bring “a candid evaluation of the parties’ likelihood of prevailing on the claims and defenses.”
On his way to San Francisco with Samsung’s CEO, JK Shin, President of IT & Mobile Communications Division suggested that the two companies might be able work something out. “There is still a big gap in the patent war with Apple but we still have several negotiation options including cross-licensing,” he said yesterday.
Apple’s Tim Cook also suggested a few weeks back that settlement was a better option than a long-drawn out legal battle. He said, “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.”
The U.S. case between the two companies is only one of some 20 cases that span 10 countries. If a settlement cannot be reached, it will head to trial in July.
Mediation talks are starting to catch on with U.S courts with intellectual property cases. A similar order was made to Apple and HTC last week.
Read more: Reuters