Apple’s Insistence On An Anti-Cloning Provision Could Be A Deal-Breaker For Samsung

Earlier this month we reported that Apple and Samsung would meet for settlement talks that would hopefully address their legal issues with one another next month. Apple and Samsung’s legal tussle has been going on for years now and like many others, think that it’s about time it comes to an end. After all if Apple can sign deals with Nokia and HTC, why not with Samsung, right? Well it seems that it might be because Samsung might take issue with one of Apple’s demands, which is an anti-cloning provision that has to be agreed upon by Samsung. This demand could be what FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller calls a deal-breaker that would basically put the lawsuit back on track for a formal hearing.

According to Mueller, “But no matter how much Samsung may hate the notion of an anti-cloning provision (it’s definitely at odds with the strategy that enabled Samsung to become the global market leader in smartphones), it’s s safe assumption that a deal will only come into being if Samsung accepts this.” Apple’s attorneys confirm that anti-cloning provisions have been covered in previous talks, which “consistently included limits to both the scope of any license and a prohibition against cloning Apple products.” We’re not sure if the settlement talks will yield any positive results, but we guess we will just have to wait and see. What do you guys think? Will Samsung accept Apple’s demands for an anti-cloning provision?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple
Tags: Legal, Samsung