Samsung was the elephant in the room following last week’s surprising news that Apple and Google/Motorola had come to a surprising agreement, in which both companies would agree to drop all ongoing litigation against the other.

Having spent the last few years waging bitter patent campaigns against each other in court, it seemed unlikely that Apple would be willing to afford similar treatment to Samsung.

But that’s exactly what’s happening, according to a new report from The Korea Times, which states that Samsung has recently resumed working-level discussions with Apple — with the goal being to dismiss all lawsuits and work out a royalty payment going forward for patents owned by both companies.

In their latest battle regarding U.S. patent infringement, a jury found that Samsung had infringed on three of the five Apple patents involved in the lawsuit, while Apple had infringed on one belonging to Samsung.

Obviously nothing is set in stone until both sides are happy with the terms offered, since out-of-court negotiations between the two sides have failed before, but this at least looks a step in the right direction.

Source: The Korea Times

Via: Fortune