Even though the patent war between Apple and Samsung has seemingly fallen from the media spotlight for the time being (which we’re totally OK with), the battles are still very much going on.
As you may know, the two companies have been in and out of courtrooms all around the world over the past year entangled in patent litigation. And there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. But what you may not know is, Apple actually approached Samsung multiple times two years ago to try and avoid this entire mess…
The Verge is reporting that it has gotten its hands on a recent California federal court filing in which Apple details the negotiations it pursued with Samsung between July and September in 2010.
Here’s an excerpt from that document:
“On or about August 4, 2010, Apple representatives met with Samsung in Korea and showed a presentation titled ‘Samsung’s Use of Apple patents in Smartphones.’ This presentation emphasized Samsung’s copying of the iPhone and identified two of the patents-in-suit (the ‘002 and ‘381 patents) giving Samsung actual notice of at least these patents, and many more.”
Apple’s filing goes on to name 3 other instances where it attempted to reach out to Samsung to give it a chance to remove its intellectual property from its hardware before it took the matter to court. But, as we found out last April, Samsung obviously wasn’t listening.
The last we heard, Apple was asking the Korean company for royalty payments of up to $15 per device. But given the way the previous talks went, and Samsung’s unwillingness to budge thus far, we doubt we’ll see that happen anytime soon.