Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Apple and Samsung have been in a patent war since 2011. Current CEO Tim Cook has been on record as saying that he does not like to participate in what he calls “patent litigation” and apparently he wasn’t lying. According to a lengthy article provided by Reuters, Cook claims that the late Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and former CEO, opposed and overruled him on the decision to go after Samsung in court for patent infringement.
Cook says that he did not want to sue Samsung for fear of cutting ties with one of their largest component supply manufacturers. These supplies were responsible for the popular iPhone and iPad devices provided by Apple. To give you an idea, it’s estimated that Apple purchased $8 billion in parts from Samsung last year.
Cook’s worries about beginning the patent infringement cases against Samsung were justified as the court battles did prove to cause a shortage of supplies for Apple’s iPad Mini. Reuters predicts that because Apple is failing to obtain sales bans on Samsung products, Apple and Samsung will eventually reach a stalemate and will stop the court battles indefinitely. Whether or not this happens sooner rather than later is another story.
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Source: Reuters