With Apple and Samsung having concluded their presentations for the jury in the high-profile U.S. court case over patent and design issues, Bloomberg reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung CEO Kwon Oh Hyun will talk one last time in an effort to settle or at least narrow their differences before jury deliberations begin as soon as tomorrow.
The companies’ lawyers will report to U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in federal court in San Jose, California, on the outcome of today’s telephone discussion between Apple’s Tim Cook and Samsung’s Kwon Oh Hyun, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. [...]
As testimony in the trial drew to a close, Koh asked that the CEOs talk, and said she was “pathologically optimistic” they could settle claims over patents for smartphones and tablet computers.
Senior executives of the two companies met several times leading up to the trial and were unable to reach an agreement, but Samsung is now operating under new CEO Kwon, who was elevated to the position in early June as part of an executive reshuffling.
Apple estimates that it should be owed roughly $2.5 billion in damages based on sales of Samsung devices it claims infringed upon Apple's patents and trade dress, while Samsung claims that Apple owes approximately $400 million in licensing fees for 3G-related patents based on a royalty rate of 2.4% per unit sold. Apple has claimed that the licensing fees for the standards-essential patents should be significantly lower.
