• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, August 31, 2012

Here we go again. With the future of the mobile industry at stake, Apple and Google are reportedly discussing potential infringements by Google on Apple patents.

“Google Inc Chief Executive Larry Page and Apple CEO Tim Cook have been conducting behind-the-scenes talks about a range of intellectual property matters, including the mobile patent disputes between the companies,” Reuters reports, citing sources.

“You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind's blowing,” writes CNet. “After its one-sided court victory last week over Samsung in a landmark copy infringement lawsuit, Apple has added incentive to press its legal claims against other computer makers who use Google's Android operating system.”

Indeed, “Apple reportedly is wasting no time in consolidating the market power it won in its patent case against Samsung,” surmises ReadWriteWeb.

“So far, Apple's legal campaign against Android has mostly been directed at those who make Android devices, including Samsung and Motorola (an OEM now owned by Google),” The Verge writes. “But Apple's patent disputes with manufacturers are really thought to be aimed directly at Android's owner, Google.”

In fact, “Apple considered suing Google before filing its first smartphone patent-infringement suit against HTC in 2010, according to a person close to Apple's legal team,” according to SFGate.com. (At the time, Apple apparently decided against it after determining that going after the manufacturers of rival smartphones would be a better strategy.)

For Google’s part, “Having achieved dominance in a market that generates hundreds of billions of dollars a year, [Google CEO Larry] Page is not about to cave over a $1.05 billion verdict against one of its clients,” Fortune writes.