Steve Jobs Initiated Contact with Samsung to Resolve Patent Dispute in 2010

The all-out patent dispute war has turned into a disgusting affair, as the legal battle has spanned four continents. Samsung has been accused by Apple of copying their iPad and iPhone designs. Back in July of 2010, Steve Jobs himself initiated contact with Samsung in an attempt to defuse the situation, but ultimately failed, according to Bloomberg.

Jobs wasn’t involved once the ultimately unsuccessful talks over the Galaxy smartphone began, Richard Lutton, a senior director at Apple and the company’s patent attorney, told Federal Court in Sydney.

“Samsung is an important supplier with whom we have a deep relationship,” Lutton testified in response to questioning by Samsung lawyer David Catterns. “We wanted to give them a chance to do the right thing.”

Apple’s patent attorney had testified in an Australian court, as part of Apple’s plan to block sales of Samsung’s Galaxy 10.1 Tab. The patent dispute so far has resulted in Samsung suing Apple in South Korea, Japan, German, the Netherlands, and Australia (where Samsung has already delayed sales), over claims Apple has violated its patents.

The Sydney Morning Herald writes Apple believes Samsung will ‘seduce’ customers away:

Apple fears the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will launch on to the market “with the velocity of a fire hose” and “take away iPad 2 sales so quickly” that customers may be permanently “seduced” away from Apple’s iOS platform, its lawyers told the Federal Court in Sydney today.

The back and forth rift has resulted in Apple slowly moving away from the South Korean conglomerate as a parts supplier for flash memory and displays.

If Steve Jobs can’t convince Samsung to ‘do the right thing’, nobody can. It’s not like they’re actually copying Apple, anyways.