Apple, Samsung and the Patent Wars by Jayesh Mehta
Apple seems to be winning all sorts of court cases in regards to its patents…but do these patents give them a monopoly in the phone and tablet industries? I can’t go into the tech and their similarities and differences, mainly because I don’t have that type of expertise. What I can say is that some of these suits seem frivolous and spiteful. And not just Apple’s suits. Samsung, Google, Microsoft, HTC, and Apple all seem to be fighting in every conceivable court in the world. One of the patents that there is a fight about is the technological ability that allows users to dial a phone number by tapping on it in an e-mail. Basically, to me anyway, it seems as though Apple is saying that if anyone dials via this way is in violation of its patent. If that’s true, then wouldn’t that give Apple an unfair advantage in the phone market? It’s a bit of coding that allows this. There are different ways to code things, but essentially the codes have the same commands, and there is only so many ways to code things efficiently. So Apple came up with the code first, how long should they have exclusive rights? It’s like Ford suing GM for using a combustion engine…too simplistic? How about the door handle? Someone designed it. Someone patented it. How long should they hold that exclusive patent? Some will argue that Apple came up with it, so they should have the rights to it. Good. Then make it so that these other companies have to pay for the licensing. Just like the suits against Samsung in the EU regarding overpricing. They at least are offering tech up. So if Apple would offer the tech, for a price, then the only issue would be fair and competitive pricing. Granted this is a simplistic view of these Patent Wars, and no doubt the lawyers will come up with tons of intricacies within the law, but these suits are clogging up the courts. The courts that are paid with public funds. Then there are the lawyer fees. No, they are not paid from public money. They are paid by the companies involved. So what? Well, those costs will be passed onto the consumer…you think these companies will take a smaller profit margin if they don’t have to? So the government pays, with the taxpayers’ money. And the consumer, who is also a taxpayer, pays by buying the product. Not exactly fair.
Jayesh.
