Last year Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), si Samsung they had discussions aimed at finding a solution to solve the legal problems that motivated them to open dozens of lawsuits all over the world. Based on documents obtained from various courts, those from the Wall Street Journal claim that Apple and Samsung have held a series of meetings in recent months, in February the companies were close to concluding an agreement, but the talks suddenly stopped. It seems that Samsung would have proposed a possible mutual licensing agreement for some technologies, but those from Apple would not have agreed, which was to be expected.
Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. have held a series of private negotiations about their patent disputes since last summer when Apple notched a victory in one case, according to legal documents and people familiar with the matter. The negotiations included face-to-face meetings in Seoul, South Korea, in December, one document states. The two companies even appeared to come close to a settlement in February before talks cooled off. In the negotiations, described sparingly in heavily redacted documents from the US International Trade Commission made public earlier this month and by people familiar with them, Samsung has pushed for a broad patent cross-licensing deal that could settle all outstanding litigation between the companies. It is unclear whether Apple was interested in such a deal.
Last year, Apple's representatives stated that Samsung was asking too much for the licensing of some FRAND patents, this being the main reason for ending the negotiations in that period, the problem probably repeating itself now. Although Samsung and Apple collaborate to manufacture a multitude of important components of iDevices, the two companies also have an open legal war at the moment, but despite the benefits brought by a possible amicable settlement of disputes, neither seems willing to give in .
