Samsung and Apple bosses to meet in January for another round of peace talks

Samsung Corporate HQ (image 001)

Following a ruling in March which halved last August’s $1.05 billion verdict against South Korea’s Samsung, a retrial to recalculate the remaining damages is due later this week. In its opening statement today, Apple’s legal representatives demanded $379 million in pending damages. Samsung argues it owes Apple but a paltry $52 million for infringing its iPhone patents and design features.

And as the two parties gear up for a déjà vu retrial, its CEOs will apparently meet for a new round of peace talks – all over again – according to a new report out Wednesday from South Korea…

The Korea Times reports:

Samsung Electronics and Apple will restart top tier efforts to try and meet a court-ordered Jan. 8 deadline to find an amicable solution to their patent dispute, sources told The Korea Times.

An unnamed source told the publication that Samsung Mobile CEO Shin Jong-kyun will fly to the United States “next month or in January” for talks with Apple CEO Tim Cook, as per U.S. federal judge Lucy H. Koh’s order.

Thus far, the two parties officially met three times to negotiate a solution, to no avail.

Samsung issued the following comment:

We’ve acknowledged that Samsung Electronics is suggested by the judge Koh for substantial progress in peace talks. But we have no further comments about the issue.

An industry expert speculated that the CEOs will probably meet during January’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which is weird knowing Tim Cook rarely attends industry events.

As CNET reported today, Samsung’s position is that Apple is asking way too much in royalty payments.

The remaining damages Samsung owes to Apple after Judge Koh slashed the $1.05 billion verdict by approximately $410 million will be determined over the course of a retrial, which began today. An attorney for Apple in today’s opening statement reckoned damages at $380 million versus the original $410 million in vacated damages.

The Apple lawyer cited internal Samsung documents which serve as “conclusive evidence Apple lost sales because of Samsung,” adding:

We will hear a lot from Samsung, saying no one would have purchased Apple products. But in its heart, Samsung knew it was a two-horse race. In a fair fight, that money should have gone to Apple.

The Korea Times through the mouth of another industry source suggests that peace talks between the two CEOs may yield some visible returns should “Apple’s new offer protect Samsung’s pride”.

And the saga continues…

What do you think, are Apple and Samsung eventually going to settle out of court?