That is until Samsung discontinue the manufacturing of all the Apple devices they make. Samsung holds just as many cards as Apple in this. And if you ask me, the entire thing is hilarious.
No they don't; stopping manufacturing would be an incredibly stupid move from Samsung's perspective.
1. It doesn't actually solve anything. It's just vindictive. The infringement suits wouldn't go Samsung's way just because they did this; in fact it could be seen as an admission of guilt (i.e. trying to put pressure on Apple because they can't win in court)
2. There would be punitive penalties in the supply contract. It would cost Samsung a lot of money.
3. It would irreparably damage Samsung's reputation as a component supplier. All of Samsung's other customers would take note: you can buy Samsung components, but then you're Samsung's bitch - they can steal whatever they want from you, and you have to let them win in all of the bazillion electronics markets in which they operate or they'll stop your supply.
4. It would probably be anticompetitive. Conglomerates like Samsung always run the risk of being broken up by the courts; would Korean courts have the guts to do this to Samsung? They wouldn't do it lightly, but in this extreme situation (which would also result in
a lot of diplomatic pressure from the USA), it wouldn't be unthinkable.
Samsung doesn't make any Apple devices, unless you count the ones they've blatantly copied. They make components that go into Apple devices. They make a tremendous amount of money producing and selling those components, and would not stop doing so unless they had to.
And Apple has been diversifying their supplier base, giving fewer contracts to Samsung for manufacturing components.
Finally, Samsung doesn't hold much in the way of legal cards. They are getting their butts kicked in every court these days, including in Korea. That's why they're at the table. Cook doesn't like the litigation, and he'll talk to Samsung all day long if they bring reasonable royalty payment concessions with them.
It's a shame that Apple even has to accept royalties, and if I were CEO I wouldn't. Apple only survives while its products are unique. Giving Samsung a license would be tantamount to modern-day cloning. Like you say, Apple are winning in the courts all over the planet. Samsung are big and have lots of cash, so they're making sure they stall the process as long as they can. This is a case of "
justice delayed is justice denied".
The lesson from the clones saga is simple: Apple licensed their unique software in order to generate quick cash, but doing that cannibalised their higher-margin hardware sales. These days computing is sufficiently advanced and these companies big and flush with cash; licensing the commercially valuable patents is not really very different from licensing away iOS itself.
This is especially true since we're talking about
Samsung. We all know they have no shame, and we know that they do business by just making whatever people seem to want, making it cheaper, then delaying and stalling all efforts from the original rights holders to get justice. "Anti-cloning provisions" don't mean jack to a company like Samsung. They will find a way.
