Apple Google Patent Peace Talks Held By Page And Cook – Report

Google’s Larry Page and Apple’s Tim Cook are reportedly in secret talks concerning the ongoing Apple Google patent war.

The two chief executives had a telephone conversation last week according to Reuters and discussions involving lower-level officials are continuing.

The two are expected to speak again in the next few weeks, although no date has been set. They were scheduled to meet on Friday, but this has been delayed for unspecified reasons.

Apple Google Patent Peace

Apple and Android smartphone manufacturers have been engaged in various patent claims and counter-claims for the last couple of years, with the latest episode resulting in Samsung being ordered to pay $1.05bn (£664m) in damages after it was found guilty of infringing Apple’s design and software patents.

However the lines of communication between the two companies have remained open during the conflict, reminiscent of the Moscow-Washington hotline between the White House and the Kremlin during the Cold War.

It remains unclear whether the two executives are discussing a wider settlement of the various disputes between the companies or if they were more specific. It has been suggested that there could be a possible truce over the basic features and functions in Android.

Apple’s late founder Steve Jobs labelled Android a “stolen product” but it is the world’s most popular operating system in terms of market share. Relations between Apple and Google have deteriorated as a result of their dispute and Apple has taken steps to reduce its dependency on its rivals products,  most notably by replacing Google Maps in iOS 6 with its own mapping application.

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