Ah. In my mind “holding out” does not require a settlement offer to be proposed by the counterparty.
If you ask the price to buy my 2005 Honda CRV (license my patent) and I tell you $250K ($250M/yr), many would think I was holding out even if you (Apple) correctly roll your eyes and don’t engage.
The point is… even that preliminary exchange of information never took place. Apple has not engaged whatsoever; There’s been no contact since the original meetings (2013 I think) where they discussed working together. Apple (allegedly) went dark very shortly after and started their own thing.
There would have to be some serious mental gymnastics going on to suggest Massimo was “holding out”.
To use your metaphor; If I’m selling my 1999 4Runner but no one ever approaches me to ask about details (ie price) it’d be very weird to suggest I was “holding out”.
For sure. But it does counter the suggestion you made that Massimo may have been "holding out" for more money.
>Apple’s under no obligation to offer a settlement.
Agreed. I never suggested otherwise.