Steve Jobs unsuccessful before death in personal appeal to end Samsung litigation

Samsung has been engaged in international patent wars with Apple over mobile devices, seeking injunctions in several countries regarding phones and tablets. Yesterday's death of Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs, may have ended any hope that CEOs (as the true decision makers in these disputes) could end them short of the courthouse. In fact, as Jobs lay dying, Samsung apparently filed two lawsuits in Europe to block the sale of the newly launched Apple iPhone 4S. While Jobs already personally tried to fix the situation by calling Samsung in an appeal to avoid a messy legal battle and to avoid a parts supply problem for Apple's iPad, he failed. This was not done under the formality of a confidential mediation which could have served to set parameters for negotiation and a process by which a facilitator could ease the tension between the parties, while working on achieving a creative solution that would benefit all in a post-PC and now post-Jobs era. Unfortunately, Jobs' death will eliminate at least one avenue to resolution that is utilized by mediators in their negotiation toolbox, which prevents the posturing of litigators and seeks direct dialogue between the head honchos-- face to face. Jobs' successor at Apple, Tim Cook, now might play a role in settling the ongoing technology dispute, but likely lacks the larger-than-life influence of Jobs. See story here: http://tinyurl.com/3gg9rzu