Steve Jobs tried to settle Samsung patent dispute in 2010

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs made contact with Samsung in July 2010 in an attempt to settle the patent dispute that has seen the two companies engage in a legal battle on four different continents, a court has heard.

Richard Lutton, a senior director at Apple and the company’s patent attorney, told a Federal Court in Sydney that Jobs initiated contact but wasn’t involved in the talks the two companies had about the Samsung Galaxy smartphone, Bloomberg reports.

“Samsung is an important supplier with whom we have a deep relationship. We wanted to give them a chance to do the right thing,” Lutton told the court when under questioning by Samsung’s lawyers.

The hearing concerns the fate of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and whether it should be allowed to go on sale in the country. Samsung has already postponed the Australian launch of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and launched a countersuit against Apple, saying that the iPad and iPhone infringe wireless patents owned by Samsung.

A ruling in the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 case is expected next week. Earlier this week, Apple told the court that Samsung must have known that it was infringing its patents. “It must have been as plain as the Opera House to Samsung that the Apple patents were right in front of its eyes and they were wide open,” one of Apple’s lawyers told the court.

Samsung is expected to launch legal challenges against the next-generation iPhone as soon as it is launched, claiming that “for as long as Apple does not drop mobile telecommunications functions, it would be impossible for it to sell its i-branded products without using our patents”.

Other legal disputes between Apple and Samsung are taking place in courtrooms all around the world including the Netherlands, the UK and Japan. In all, there are reckoned to be more than 20 cases between the two companies taking place.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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