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"This whole Apple v. Samsung thing didn\u2019t have to happen in a court room.\nOver two years ago, in fact, Apple \u2014 now the plaintiff in one of the highest-profile patent cases ever \u2014 offered the Korean company a royalty-based license program for its various (allegedly) infringing wares. Even as Apple historically shies away from licensing any part of its \u201Cnon-essentials\u201D patent portfolio, the iPhone and iPad maker made an exception.\nAccording to AllThingsD, the two companies met in 2010 after Samsung launched its iPhone-esque Galaxy S handset, and Apple opened discussions thus:\nSamsung chose to embrace and imitate Apple\u2019s iPhone archetype. Apple would have preferred that Samsung request a license to do this in advance. Because Samsung is a strategic supplier to Apple, we are prepared to offer a royalty-bearing license for this category of device.\nThe price Apple proposed would have cost Samsung $30 per smartphone and $40 per tablet, well under current estimates of what the software patents in question are actually worth. Apple even offered to give Samsung a 20-percent discount should the rival manufacturer enter into a cross-licensing agreement.\nUnsurprisingly, Samsung thought the proposed value of Apple\u2019s portfolio was unrealistic, and further negotiations were abandoned.\nHere\u2019s the kicker: If Samsung had simply played ball, it would\u2019ve only cost it around $554 million (at a rate of roughly $250 million per year). That\u2019s a big chunk of change to be sure, but when you consider that Samsung made $5.9 billion in profits last quarter alone, said premium seems much more affordable. Indeed, for about $63 million per quarter (or 1.05 percent of its quarterly haul), all this unpleasantness could\u2019ve been avoided.\nInstead, Samsung\u2019s being sued for $2.5 billion.\nAnd the company's probably going to lose.\n[via AllThingsD, Ars Technica and iDownloadBlog]"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/08/12/apple-samsung-patents/>