Apple and Samsung agree to talk things out before next patent battle

In a rather welcome bit of news, Apple and Samsung have agreed to try to resolve their disputes over smartphone patents through a mediation session in February. The two companies will take a trip back to the courts in March for their next patent battle, but Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon will be in talks to see if they can settle things out of court, before millions more are spent on the pointless court battles. The talks will be held in the presence of an unidentified mediator who has “experience mediating high-profile disputes,” and three to four in-house lawyers from each company.

Of course, these talks have been held before and have always failed to settle anything, so it's likely the scenario will play out the same way this time as well. But in case they don't, well, that would be great and remove two major players from the countless patent disputes that have companies reaching for each other's throats.

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