Apparently Google’s CEO Larry Page and Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, have been talking over the phone about trying to put an end to some of these patent disputes, claims Reuters. So far the talks appear to be positive and both men are schedule to talk again soon, a meeting was supposed to talk place this Friday, but that was cancelled for unknown reasons.
It remains unclear as to just what patents Apple and Google would like to discuss, but with Apple’s overwhelming victory against Samsung in court, they now have some pretty daunting leverage. Some of the patents that Apple claimed Samsung infringed upon, and we’re later found guilty of violating, were found to be on the Nexus S, which is a pure Google device. So it is possible that Apple could waive those for future devices if Google, who now owns Motorola, were to make a deal.
One area that we can be sure that Apple won’t negotiate or compromise on would be their trade dress patents. Apple’s devices and their appearances are their bread and butter and they will not let the rest of the world, especially Android, mimic those, no matter the cost.
Hopefully in a few weeks, when these two tech giants meet again, we could finally hear some words that these patent disputes could calm down and hopefully companies can get back to work designing, instead of suing.