A while back there were some rumblings that Steve Jobs had apparently initiated talks with Samsung over an alleged patent infringement lawsuit, possibly in the hopes that they would be able to settle it quickly and quietly without the need for a long and drawn out patent war. Given the current scenario, safe to say that those talks did not work out and now Apple is using those talks against Samsung in their lawsuit to point out that the Korean manufacturer was “willfully infringing” upon Apple’s patents.
On or about August 4, 2010, Apple representatives met with Samsung in Korea and showed a presentation titled ‘Samsung’s Use of Apple Patents in Smartphones.’ This presentation emphasized Samsung’s copying of the iPhone and identified two of the patents-in-suit (the ‘002 and ‘381 patents), giving Samsung actual notice of at least these patents, and many more.
On or about August 26, 2010, Apple sent Samsung an electronic archive file containing claim charts further illustrating Samsung’s infringement of Apple patents. A presentationdocument that accompanied these claim charts identified the ‘002 and ‘381 patents as two patents that Samsung products infringed, and it substantiated these allegations with text from the patents and photographs of Samsung devices illustrating infringing functionality. Apple later presented these slides to Samsung at a meeting in Cupertino, California on or about September 9, 2010.
Apple is currently looking to use those talks as evidence against Samsung, while attempting to persuade the courts to rule in their favor. It’s obvious that Samsung didn’t feel that their patents infringed upon Apple’s otherwise they might have come to some sort of licensing deal already, but what do you guys think? Will this be enough to persuade the courts to rule in Apple’s favor?