Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung CEO Choi Gee-sung met face-to-face over their patent disputes this week, but according to a new report, they couldn't seem to get along.
The Korea Times is reporting today, citing a Samsung "official," that the chief executives "could find no clear agreement through the talks," leaving the firms no other option but to battle it out in court.
Both Cook and Choi, as well as their general counsels, were ordered in April by Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to meet in San Francisco to try to reach a settlement over some of their differences. Koh said at the time that the trial would be scheduled for July 30, but if no agreement was inked, the court might be forced to push the trial back to next year to accommodate its size.
Although the chief executives reportedly didn't come to a deal, they seemed to have tried. FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller, who has followed these cases quite closely, reported today that Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero revealed in a minutes order that Cook and Choi spent nine hours in talks on Monday, and seven hours discussing the cases on Tuesday.
Apple and Samsung have been waging their bitter patent dispute across the world. Both sides argue that the other violates patents they hold related to mobile software and hardware, and are looking to have their counterpart's products banned from sale. So far, however, neither side has been able to gain the upper hand.
Apple declined CNET's request for comment. CNET has contacted Samsung for comment, and we will update this story when we have more information.
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