Play nice you two: Apple CEO and Samsung chief to meet

You know a dispute is real when a judge orders CEOs of two of world’s the largest tech companies to meet face to face. Yup, Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics agreed that their respective chief executives would meet in San Francisco to talk and hopefully bring an end to their ongoing patent war, reports Reuters.

Apple sued Samsung in the United States last year, saying the South Korean company’s Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets “slavishly” copy the iPhone and iPad. Samsung then countersued Apple. So began the great patent war of 2011. It seems the courts are done with this.

In a court filing this week, both companies agreed to the settlement talk, US District Judge Lucy Koh on referred the companies to a San Francisco-based magistrate judge who will lead the talks, referee the two sides if you will. The two companies will meet within 90 days.

As GigaOM’s Eric Ogg says: “There’s no guarantee of a settlement, and they have three months to arrange the meeting, but this is the first time in the series of patent disputes between the companies that such high-level settlement talks have been ordered by the court.”

Samsung and Apple also do business with each other. Apple is one of Samsung’s largest customers for components for its iPhone and iPad. Their courtroom dances will have to end soon or it might impact badly on their business relations.

So, play nice you two!