Reports suggesting that Apple and Samsung could soon reach an agreement to end their long-running patent war couldn’t be further from the truth based on courtroom battle.
Apple has filed objection to comments made by Samsung’s lead attorney John Quinn has not gone down well with Apple’s legal team. According to the Verge, Apple’s law firm WilmerHale expressed reservations about spending more time discussing settlement options based on those interviews.
Apple had to say in a statement submitted to the courts:
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Apple has always been committed to a resolution with Samsung, preferably without the need for litigation, that recognises and protects Apple’s intellectual property. As the Court knows from trial, Apple met with Samsung multiple times before being forced to file the present lawsuits. After litigation began, the most senior officials of Apple have devoted days’ worth of their time to various ADR processes, as well as having countless discussions with Samsung outside formal mediation.
Accordingly, when the Court inquired on May 5 whether Samsung and Apple were willing to engage in further ADR, and counsel for Samsung stated they “were always willing to participate if there is an interest in doing so” (Trial Tr. 3424:14-15), Apple also communicated its willingness to engage in further discussions. (Id. at 3424:18-25.) However, immediately after that exchange Samsung’s lead counsel made a number of statements suggesting that Samsung has no interest in stopping its use of Apple’s patents or compensating Apple for past infringement. For example, Mr. Quinn was quoted as saying: “I’m more confident than in any case I’ve ever been in that this [jury verdict in the 630 matter] is unsupported [by the evidence]. It will go to zero. They’re not going to see any of this money. This won’t stand.” Samsung Atty Quinn Calls iPhone IP War ‘Apple’s Vietnam’, Law360.com, http://www.law360.com/articles/534842/samsung-atty-quinn-calls-iphone-ip-war-apple-s-vietnam (last visited May 19, 2014). Mr. Quinn reportedly dismissed the earlier verdicts against Samsung by saying: “Apple hasn’t collected a penny—or succeeded in taking any products off the market.” Id. “This is Apple’s Vietnam, and people are sick of it.” Id. And, in what hardly presages a fruitful return to mediation, Mr. Quinn remarked: “It’s kind of hard to talk settlement with a jihadist.” Key Samsung Lawyer Sees Patent War Ending Soon – With Apple Getting Nothing, Cnet.com, http://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-attorney-quinn-says-patent-war-will-be-over-soon-and-applesnot- getting-our-money/ (last visited May 19, 2014).[/su_quote]