Big happenings today in the court case between Apple and Samsung. The big boys are sitting down in San Francisco to hash things out, as Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, and Samsung CEO Choi Gee-sung try to work out a settlement that the lawyers have yet to achieve.
Both CEOs have been instructed by a federal judge to appear for a court-supervised mediation that will begin at a federal courthouse in San Francisco on Monday. Making the CEOs themselves get involved in the discussions is a new tactic being employed by some courts, according to Reuters.
“It is the corporate equivalent of therapy, only in this case, the participants each get to bring a team of lawyers,” author Dan Levine wrote.
The hope of the court is that by bringing in corporate executives instead of lawyers to negotiate, a settlement may be reached, rather than seeing the companies continue to not give an inch and continue the dispute. The two companies are involved in dozens of lawsuits with each other spanning the globe.
If Apple and Samsung can’t come to an agreement, the California case is scheduled to go to trial in San Jose in July. Samsung has told the court a July start is too early, but Apple has argued for a quick start in order to put an end to Samsung’s continuing success selling products infringing on Apple’s patents.
Earlier this month, Judge Lucy Koh ordered both sides to drop a number of patents cited in the suits, as she said that going to trial with the original number would be “cruel and unusual punishment to a jury.”
Samsung may have more incentive to settle than Apple, as Apple has yet to lose an infringement case to Samsung, while Samsung has seen a number of injunctions filed against its products around the world.