Samsung Electronics’ top executives who met Apple’s Tim Cook in the United States on the issue of patents are expected to return to Seoul this week as chairman Lee Kun-hee is also projected to arrive in Seoul, officials said.

A Samsung executive said Wednesday that the results of the patent talks with Apple may be known when the firm’s vice chairman Choi Gee-sung and mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun return to the country Friday.

Lee is also reportedly heading back to Seoul after visiting Europe to watch market conditions in the region for about three weeks.

Choi and Shin are currently in San Francisco to iron out their differences on the patent dispute as part of an alternative resolution effort.

The event takes place as U.S. Judge Lucy Koh, a federal judge in the Northern District of California presiding over the Samsung-Apple lawsuit, asked the two firms to participate in the dispute resolution. The two firms, represented by Choi of Samsung and Apple’s Cook, then reached an agreement to meet face-to-face for the first time May 21-22.

It was a part of a magistrate judge settlement with Judge Joseph Spero as mediator.

Without an agreement, the two companies will be going to the U.S. International Trade Commission involving infringement cases filed by both parties, followed by another court case in San Jose late July.

However, it has been confirmed that the chiefs of Samsung and Apple have sat down for a talk but details have yet to be released as to whether they have nailed down an agreement or the talks have fallen flat.

“We also don’t have the details about the situation related to the chiefs’ meeting on patent matters,” said a Samsung spokesman.

The two are involved in more than 30 patent battles in courts in nine different countries ― Germany, Australia, the U.K., the U.S., Japan, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Korea ― surrounding telecommunications technology, designs and user interfaces for their wireless gadgets.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)