14 DAY TRIAL // The only reason the patent war between LG and Samsung hasn't become more notorious is because it has been mostly overshadowed by the ongoing fight between the latter and Apple.
It turns out that was a good thing. The IT world could definitely do with a bit less drama, and a government ministry from South Korea helped eliminate this particular source of it.
Long story short, LG and Samsung have agreed to settle their patent disputes without pushing anything further through courts.
The decision was reached after the aforementioned government ministry persuaded the chief executive officers (CEOs) of Samsung Display and LG Display to meet.
The meeting took place in a Seoul hotel and ended with the legal stalemate being broken at last.
For those that want some background information, LG and Samsung have been at each other's throats since last November, when Samsung accused the other of stealing its technology.
Later, Samsung added LCDs to the list of patents and technologies being litigated over.
In the meanwhile, LG draw its own claws and accused Samsung of infringing its viewing angle patent when it made the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet.
The meeting between CEOs, as reported by Yonhap News Agency, marks the end of the OLED matter, but it is unclear if LG's suit against Galaxy Note 10.1 has also been abandoned. It probably was, but we'll be waiting for further confirmation.
The two rivals have probably realized that the resolution to their confrontation, if it was to ever be reached, would only come years from now, by which time they both would have sold millions of products subject to the ruling.
The inherent tediousness of patent wars, especially those meant to invalidate the patents of one or the other, must have been a contributing factor to the compromise as well.