Executives “at the highest levels” of Apple and Samsung are in talks about patent litigation between the two companies, a lawyer for Apple said in court, according to “Reuters” (http://macte.ch/UEtg3).
The disclosure came during a hearing on Friday in the battle over the smartphone and tablet markets, the article adds. Apple attorney Harold McElhinny said the case has gotten the attention of executives “at the highest levels” of the two companies and that they are “meeting and talking.”
On Thursday Apple amended and expanded its complaint against Samsung, asserting more patents and other intellectual property rights than before against an extended list of allegedly infringing products, reports “FOSS Patents” (http://macte.ch/CFtjD).
It’s the latest volley in the Apple-Samsung legal battle. In April Samsung filed patent lawsuits against Apple over the U.S. firm’s iPhone and iPad after Apple claimed Samsung’s smartphones and tablets “slavishly” copied its products. This followed an Apple lawsuit filed on April 15 in the U.S. that claimed Samsung’s mobile phones and Galaxy Tab “slavishly” copied the iPhone and iPad.
The lawsuit, filed April 15 in US District Court in Northern California, alleges Samsung copied the look, product design and product user interface of Apple’s products. Samsung violated Apple’s patents and trademarks, the suit alleges.
The Samsung counter-lawsuits didn’t directly respond to the Apple suit. Rather they accused Apple of violating patents covering cellphone transmission
technologies. Samsung said in a statement that Apple’s iPhone and iPad infringe Samsung’s 10 mobile technology patents and it called for Apple to stop infringing its technology and compensate the company.
— Dennis Sellers
