Apple and Samsung are currently going at it in a California courtroom, with each side accusing the other of patent infringement. However, new documents from the trial have shown that the year before the initial shot in this battle was fired, Apple was interested in making a deal with Samsung. According to a page posted by AllThingsD, Apple offered to license its patents to Samsung in October 2010 because the company was a "strategic supplier" to Apple. The Cupertino firm sought a licensing fee of $30 per smartphone (Android, Windows Phone, Symbian and Bada) and $40 per tablet. Various factors, such as Samsung cross-licensing its patents back to Apple, would've knocked the per-unit price down depending on the OS it was running. In all, Apple estimated that Samsung would pay $250 million in licensing fees for the year 2010.
Separate court documents have also revealed that Apple met with Samsung in August 2010 to give a heads-up that it thought that its patents were being infringed. Apple named many different patents in its explanation, claiming that there were "dozens of examples where Android is using or encouraging others to use Apple patented technology." Some of the patents pointed to by Apple in its report are involved in the trial that's currently underway.
These latest documents are just the latest addition to a pile of pages that've already surfaced thanks to this Apple-Samsung trial. The licensing offer made to Samsung by Apple may be one of the most documents we've seen yet, though, as it gives specific figures that Apple sought from Samsung in exchange for a patent licensing agreement. Obviously no deal ever actually happened between the two companies, and now they're involved in a trial that's revealed details pertaining to device sales figures and unannounced Samsung phones and a tablet. If you'd like a peek at the presentation that details Apple's licensing offer to Samsung, you can find it right here.
Via AllThingsD (1), (2)
