Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung's mobile chief and co-CEO JK Shin reportedly met last week to try and thrash out a settlement to their long-running intellectual property dispute. The meeting, while unconfirmed by either party, is being reported by multiple Korean news outlets and adheres to the companies' promise to try and come to an amicable agreement before resuming their legal antagonism next month.

Sources indicate that the mediation effort was unproductive, which comes as no surprise given the history of animosity between Apple and Samsung and the fact that similar talks were fruitless back in 2012.

Shin was expected to fly out to the US next week, ahead of a February 19th deadline for conducting these talks, but Chosun reports he's presently in Korea and has no plans to leave the country before that date — suggesting that he has already been to the US and met with the Apple CEO. Although Tim Cook has repeatedly expressed his distaste for legal entanglement, this particular disagreement appears to be intractable enough to keep the companies returning to the courtroom time after time.