Apple vs. Samsung Lawsuit: Patent Infringement Trial Gets Mediator; Apple, Samsung CEOs to Meet in February

Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.'s ongoing patent infringement legal battles will be met with a mediator ahead of an important March trial.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon will attend a mediation session with in-house lawyers on Feb. 19.

According to a court filing on Jan. 8, the two tech companies agreed to attend the mediation session. The agreement comes as both legal teams met on Jan. 6 with the intent to "discuss settlement opportunities."

The Feb. 19 mediation session will come one month before Apple and Samsung meet in court over claims Samsung infringed on patents owned by the iPhone company.

According to Reuters, Apple and Samsung have not returned messages for comments.

The mediation session agreement comes after Apple filed a motion for U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh to ban sales of more than 20 Samsung products such as the Galaxy S 4G and the Galaxy Tab 10.1. The 20 Samsung smartphones and tablets were already found guilty of infringing Apple patents in August 2012, but Judge Koh had rejected Apple's bid for a sales ban. A federal appeals court, however, paved the way for Apple to reissue an injunction on the Samsung products.

Apple requested the U.S. district court to start injunction proceedings as soon as Jan. 30.

Last December in South Korea, the Seoul Central District Court dismissed Samsung's bid to ban older Apple iPhones and iPads such as the iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, and iPad 2. The South Korean court stated Apple did not violate Samsung's patents on short message display methods or message grouping features, noted Reuters. Samsung's bid in financial damages was also dismissed. Samsung claimed Apple owed the company 100 million won, or $95,100 in financial damages.

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