Apple and Samsung Still in Settlement Talks, 'No Indication' of Imminent Agreement

Apple and Samsung have been in settlement negotiations following Apple's victory in a patent lawsuit last year, according to The Wall Street Journal. This contradicts a report from last November that said Samsung was not interested in settling with Apple.

The talks included face-to-face meetings in Seoul and reportedly came close to a resolution in February, but have since "cooled off". The sides remain in discussions, according to The WSJ.

In the negotiations, described sparingly in heavily redacted documents from the U.S. International Trade Commission made public earlier this month and by people familiar with them, Samsung has pushed for a broad patent cross-licensing deal that could settle all outstanding litigation between the companies. It is unclear whether Apple was interested in such a deal.

The possibility of a broad settlement, or a series of separate deals, marks another twist in the relationship between the two technology giants that began with Samsung supplying parts necessary to make smaller and thinner iPod music players in 2005, and has ballooned into fierce competition over smartphones.

The most recent development in Apple v. Samsung was the scheduling of a new damages trial for November, after Judge Lucy Koh ruled that the original jury may not have had a clear understanding of the patent issues. She said this resulted in a lump sum award that did not distinguish between patent violations, making it impossible for the court to determine which part of the damages were applicable to each patent.