Samsung, Apple unlikely to reconcile
By Kim Yoo-chul
Samsung Electronics plans to appeal a ruling by a U.S. court that ordered it to pay $930 million to Apple for patent infringements, sources said Monday.
While the two companies earlier agreed to participate in mediation talks before February 19 headed by Judge Lucy Koh, who’s been presiding over the Samsung-Apple disputes since the legal battle began, the sources said it’s highly unlikely that they will reach an agreement.
“Top-level executives from both companies, probably Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook and Samsung co-CEO Shin Jong-kyun may hold a face-to-face meeting or a teleconference under the order of Lucy Koh. Because the two companies are still struggling to narrow their differences, the legal battle may continue,” a source familiar with the issue was quoted as saying.
The U.S. Justice Department last week ended its investigation into Samsung’s use of standards-essential patents (SEPs) to exclude certain Apple devices from the United States, saying the inquiry is no longer necessary.
That means Samsung’s plan to lower its payments to Apple via judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) procedure was also denied.
If the upcoming high-level talks fail to produce a resolution, then Samsung will have to pay the $930 million to Apple.
“Samsung plans to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals … if the Judge Koh-organized mediation talks fail,” said another source, requesting anonymity.
Samsung declined to comment on the claims.
In an e-mail to The Korea Times, Germany-based patent expert Florian Mueller said the key condition for the ongoing negotiations is, “The combination of anti-cloning and money.”
Apple earlier said it was asking Samsung to sign an “anti-cloning agreement,” which Samsung rejected. By signing the agreement, Samsung would in effect be admitting that it is a copycat of Apple.
“I guess Judge Koh will decide after Feb. 19, after the mediation effort. And it won’t hurt Samsung. The United States Patent and Trademark Office believes by now that the ‘915 pinch-to-zoom patent is invalid. It would not be fair to enforce an injunction over it. I don’t have a problem with Judge Koh ordering an injunction. However, it should be stayed before it is actually enforced,” Mueller said in the e-mail.
Samsung has meanwhile signed multiple cross-licensing deals with Google, Ericsson and Cisco Systems in a bid to avoid being labeled a “patent troll.”
“Samsung is ready to end its patent litigations via cross-licensing if conditions are met,” a Samsung official said, asking not to be named.
The two companies are bracing for more patent-related litigation. Among the disputed devices at the heart of this upcoming case are the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S3.
The case will be presided by the same judge and held in the same courthouse, but there is no guarantee that the outcome will be the same. The litigation is scheduled to begin on March 31.