Monday, April 30, 2012

Samsung and Apple to Settle Squabble on May 21/22

Samsung and Apple to Settle Squabble on May 21/22
After months and months of almost constant tensions, and several clashes in court, Samsung and Apple have finally chosen when they will meet and try to bury the metaphorical hatchet, officially anyway.

Image Credit: samsung

That Apple and Samsung have decided to try and stop their ongoing fights is something we learned about earlier this month.

Now, though, we finally have an actual date and place for when and where the momentous event is to take place: May 21/22, 2012, in San Francisco, California.

The Chief Executive Officers of both companies and the general counsel will discuss the matter, while Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero presides over the gathering.

We should probably try to summarize the history of this whole debacle.

Apple and Samsung used to be quite at peace with each other, until the latter released the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Almost immediately, the former cried foul, saying that it was an iPad rip-off, and scored a quick victory in Australia, banning it.

The decision was eventually overturned, but not before Apple filed similar patent infringement claims in other parts of the world. Meanwhile, Samsung initiated some lawsuits of its own, related to 3G patents for the most part.

We kept up with the different courtroom sagas as best we could, presenting both Samsung's and Apple's points of view, for all the good it did.

In the end, nothing really came of anything either of them did, so they had to choose between spending or not spending money on lawsuits that will probably complete long after the products fought over disappear from the market.

Keep in mind, though, that while talks are definitely set for next month, there is no guarantee that anything will come of them. We, of course, hope for a resolution, but all the accusations thrown around up to now have left a mark that isn't likely to disappear any time soon.