George Orwell once wrote that, “The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous.”

Yesterday we reported on the fact that Samsung and Apple were sitting down to negotiate an end to the ongoing litigation between the two companies — and unlike all the previous occasions, this time the plan was to make it stick.

Well, one day later, and talks between the two warring factions are reportedly breaking down — as lawyers from both sides express difficulty working with each other. What is seemingly particularly grinding gears in the Apple camp are statements made by Samsung’s top lawyer, referring to the protracted lawsuit as “Apple’s Vietnam” and Apple as “jihadist.”

Samsung’s lawyers meanwhile claim that Apple is throwing its court victories around to dictate settlement terms. This includes attempts to reduce royalty payments, which has a major sticking point between the two companies.

The back-and-forth bickering suggests that neither Apple or Samsung is particularly interested in settling, despite stating this aim in public. Since the damages amount to relatively little when compared to the company’s overall revenues, and the sales bans involve obsolete products, there is little motivation for both sides to come to an understanding.

Either that or some fat cat lawyers just realized their cash cow was about to dry up, and they’d better find a way to get offended real quick.

Source: The Verge