Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung (OTCMKTS:SSNLF) have had a long legal battle over the past three years concerning a design pattern violation for some of the electronics, mainly the smartphones. Millions of dollars were spent on legal fees so far, and now Samsung and Apple have decided to try what is best for both manufacturers, and that is a mediation session.
The mediation session aims to help both parties reach a mutually beneficial decision and, according to a report issued by the international news agency Reuters, it is scheduled to start on the 19th of February, right before the lawsuit over the smartphone patent that will take place in March.
Samsung Vs. Apple – A Multi-Million Dollar Battle That Spreads Across Continents
The legal battles have taken place all around the world, and while Apple did win some legal fights (ordering Samsung to pay no less than $930 million), both companies have to suffer from this. On the other hand, Apple has allegedly paid the staggering sum of $60 million to wage a patent litigation against the South Korean multinational company Samsung.
A Closer Look At The Mediation Session
The CEOs from both companies (Tim Cook on the behalf of Apple and Oh-Hyun Kwon on the behalf of Samsung) are expected to be present at the mediation session, where they will most likely discuss settlement opportunities to avoid future expensive lawsuits that can damage the reputation of both companies. It is a known fact that both Apple and Samsung are struggling to hold the supremacy in the electronics industry, this is why they keep dragging each other into court hoping that one will finally win. The first one to start this series of lawsuits was Apple, which sued Samsung for the first time a couple of years ago for an alleged breach of the patent – as a matter of fact, the trial that is scheduled for March is about another patent violation that Samsung is accused of.
In spite of the fact that the two companies have allegedly stopped the legal battles and that the CEO of Samsung even paid a visit to the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, there is still no final decision in the case of this year-long patent infringement dispute. Tim Cook and the former CEO of Samsung have had another meeting back in 2012 where Apple hoped that Samsung will eventually accept the patent royalties demand it poses, but apparently it was all in vain as Samsung has denied the demands. The history seems to have repeated itself again last years, when both multinationals met in Seoul to settle the terms.
The latest lawsuit that is scheduled to start in March comes after less than a month ago, the manufacturer of iPhone has clearly asked the ban of over 20 models of tablets and smartphones wearing the Samsung logo, claiming that all the models are infringing the Apple patent and they should be withdrawn from the electronics market. Until now, two spokespeople from both electronics manufacturers have refused to discuss the process of mediation.
