The Wall Street Journal reported today that the CEO´s of both companies will indeed start talking about a settlement in the endless patent war spread out over multiple continents.
Judge Lucy Koh who presides over the US battleground in this global war disclosed yesterday that the two technology giants will participate in a “magistrate judge settlement conference”.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook and Samsung CEO Choi Gee-sung together with their legal staff will sit in on talks presided by a San Francisco judge. They have 90 days to settle their conflict under supervision of the SF magistrate.
Now accepting to hold talks is not exactly kiss and make up, but it does make sense for both companies to make a deal. Samsung is not afraid of an open competition and is willing to take its chances on the market. A broad agreement with a patent swap makes sense for them as they are not only a competitor in the mobile market but also an important component source for Apple. An out of court deal would be good for their component division and Samsung´s mobile strategy is already showing results in conquering market share.
Apple has always refused to license it´s patents to others. Steve Jobs believed that he could protect his off the shelf technology by design and software patents. He hoped to create an effective monopoly in the mobile market by blocking all attempts to compete with patents.
In the linked article written a month ago I wrote that Tim Cooke is a smart man. He doesn´t like to gamble on court cases if he can get his guaranteed monopoly by buying exclusive technology. It´s remarkable that Steve Jobs, the man who trusted nobody, put the future of his company in the hands of lawyers and judges from all over the world. His successor will be wiser by avoiding these risks and maximize the real advantages of Apple: their deep pockets.
Let´s see if that assessment was right. The fact that Cupertino even agreed to start talks is a telltale sign of changes in Apples market approach. If Tim Cook can control the supply chain, his speciality, and monopolize the market by buying up all production capacity for new technologies he could well decide to break away with Steve Jobs thermonuclear approach. #patents
Apple willing to end patent war and offer licenses? A reality check! Dow Jones suggests that talks about licensing are ongoing between the major rivals in…
this can only be a good thing for everyone. Surely they can sort it over a few games of golf and a few beers in the clubhouse…
It worked for Google and Oracle when the judge ordered the same thing, innit? errr – wait 😉
+Jan Wildeboer I know, but both parties had completely different ideas about the outcome at that time. Oracle still thought it would get billions and Google was confident about its defense. That all changed as we now know 🙂
Apple is hurt by f.i. the block on their cloud service in Germany. It has just been extended so they are losing crucial functionality due to these court cases worldwide. And as I say, Tim Cook is a very different man.
+Max Huijgen I guess we both agree that the patent wars that have been summoned my Apple, Oracle, MSFT and others are a true obstacle to innovation and better products, so the earlier this madness stopsm the better. I sincerely hope Samsung and Apple find a way. But we still have similar cases with Motorola, HTC and a few others.
+Max Huijgen Apple hoped that these patent wars would cause functional degradation for +Android but instead it has started hurting apple! I feel that the recent fall in apples shares might be a correction for the diminishing possibility of a major patent win (which any way was a figment of fanboy imagination)
+Jan Wildeboer there is nothing wrong with patents, or patent wars. As long as the patents are based on actual technology, instead of software and design, which are supposed to be protected by copyright. Technology patents are good, because real R&D costs a lot of money, and you need to give companies a chance of recuperating that money, or they will stop inventing. Vague conceptual patents, software patents and design patents only serve to harass others and make lawyers rich in never ending lawsuits.
Of course this would be bad for Apple, as they rarely do anything to actually invent technology, as their business model revolves around making existing technology accessible. Apple is one of the companies that abuse the current patent system and their deep pockets to bully companies that actually do or have done technological innovation and R&D like Nokia, Motorola and others into submission.
You wearing your red hat again +Jan Wildeboer 😉
Though a similar effort between Oracle and Google failed last year, this case is different due to the fact that Apple and Samsung are business partners. E.g., the iPad-Tablet screen comes from Samsung. From that perspective, the effort might be more promising.
+Max Huijgen I only take it off when I shower or go to bed 🙂 It's part of the contract that I must wear at all other times.
+Nico Gerrits Samsung even makes the processors for Apple. The estimates are that the component division has an 8-10 billion dollar client in Apple, but I argue this in my post as well.
Both parties have a real interest to solve this now that personal pride, aka S. Jobs, doesn´t stand in the way of a solution.
Exactly +Max Huijgen. I forgot to explicitly name +Jan Wildeboer as it was actually intended as reply on his first comment – sorry.