Apple could be looking to settle its patent war under Tim Cook’s leadership

The patent war that Apple is currently embroiled in against a host of Android manufacturers has been going on for years. According to a Stanford University law professor, Mark Lemley, this has cost Apple and their opponents a whopping $400 million in litigation costs over the years, money which could have been spent in furthering the development of their products. In any case, we’re sure that many of you guys probably think that this has dragged on long enough, and if the reports are to be believed, Tim Cook feels the same way too.

According to a cover story published by Bloomberg Businessweek:

“People familiar with the situation, however, note that top-level executives at both Apple and Samsung have communicated lately about potential settlement options. Apple CEO Tim Cook does not seem to share his predecessor’s passion about laying all foes to waste. Cook appears to view litigation as a necessary evil, not a vehicle of cosmic revenge.”

This seems to go against Apple’s late co-founder, Steve Jobs’ wishes when it was revealed in Walter Isaacson’s book that Jobs had planned to go “thermonuclear” in the war against Android. Evidence of possible settlement was seen a while back where Apple had attempted to negotiate some form of settlement with Samsung and Motorola only to have it rejected. So what will be the end result? Lemley predicts that there will be some form of major cross-licensing deal that is expected to bring all the legal disputes to an end, but until then, it looks like the war is still going on.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple
Tags: Legal, tim cook