Apple, Samsung reignite patent lawsuit settlement talks - report

Following Apple's most recent legal victory in California, and the news that both it and Google have agreed to end litigation with each other, Apple is said to have renewed settlement talks with Samsung, in an effort to end all ongoing lawsuits between the two rivals.

Citing unnamed sources involved with the discussions, The Korea Times reported on Monday that Samsung Electronics and Apple are in talks to settle their ongoing global patent disputes out of court. The two parties are engaged in numerous lawsuits that span across the globe, in which each has accused the other of patent infringement.

The talks are said to be "working-level discussions" where "the key issue is how to dismiss all lawsuits," one unnamed source was quoted as saying. Talks are said to have reignited after Apple was found to have infringed on some Samsung patents in their most recent U.S. trial.

While both Apple and Samsung were found guilty of patent infringement, the disparity was wide: While Apple paid only $158,000 in damages, Samsung was fined $119.6 million. Still, the retrial proved advantageous for Samsung, which saw its original damages reduced from some $1.05 billion.

As for their current talks, the source said that it's likely that royalty payments will be made in return for patents owned by each, if a deal is made. The person said that time would be needed to iron out those details.

The tone for truce building was established last Friday, when Apple and Google announced they would drop all ongoing lawsuits between the two companies. Although Apple and Google never sued each other directly, Google subsidiary Motorola had a number of ongoing lawsuits involving Apple.

In addition to dropping their legal squabbles, Apple and Google both pledged to work together on "some areas" of patent reform. The cease fire between the companies did not come with a cross-license.