Many of you will be aware of the well-documented litigation wars of Apple vs. Samsung and sometimes to be frank it seems that these patent disputes will never end. One thing you may not have known though is that current Apple CEO Tim Cook and the late CEO Steve Jobs were actually in disagreement about whether Apple should go down the legal route with Apple.

Apple and Samsung now dominate the mobile industry and since the first international litigation between them in 2011 where Apple filed suit against Samsung, cases have taken place or are currently ongoing in many countries across the world. It’s interesting then to think that if Tim Cook had been CEO (he was then COO) when the lawsuits began 18 months ago, then things may have been very different.

It is reported that the ubiquitous “people with knowledge of the matter” have stated that Cook was against suing Samsung because of the company being a major supplier of components for Apple products. Although Apple still spent $8 billion on parts from Samsung during 2012, Apple does now seem to be beginning to decrease its dependence on Samsung.

Apple won a significant victory against Samsung in Europe last year with a billion-dollar jury verdict but since then Apple hasn’t had it all its own way, simply because the iPhone has been so successful that it’s difficult to show any significant negative impact on that success by Samsung. Reuters now suggests that a ‘stalemate’ seems to be on the cards as litigation slows down.

It certainly makes us wonder what the situation now would be if Steve Jobs hadn’t taken the legal road with Samsung? Let us know your thoughts on this by sending us your comments.

Source: Reuters