Does the latest Apple versus Samsung copyright lawsuit
eventually stifle innovation in the global mobile smartphone and tablet
computer industry?
By: Ringo Bones
Back in August 25, 2012, a US jury in a California court
decided that South Korea based tablet computer and smartphone manufacturer
Samsung should pay Apple 1.05 billion US dollars for copyright infringement –
i.e. Samsung used Apple’s technology in the manufacture of its best selling
tablet computers and mobile smartphones in the Galaxy III series. To us mere
consumers, the two companies’ products started to look almost exactly alike
during the past few months – making one wonder if Samsung had just got the
license from Apple to manufacture its own version of i-Phones and i-Pads.
The court jury’s ruling states that Samsung deliberately
stole Apple’s copyrighted technology to manufacture their own versions of the
i-Phone and the i-Pad for profit. Sadly, it is usually us, the consumer, who
loses in these types of titanic copyright infringement corporate battles
because the money that could have been spent on product innovation are now
being spent on copyright lawyers and in the complex world of patent law,
copyright lawyers tend to be a dead-end investment in terms of profit returns –
which means passing the expense to the consumer via higher product prices. And
Samsung is at a disadvantage since Apple could pursue the case to deny entry of
Samsung products in US territories.
Even though Samsung was found guilty by US courts of copying
critical features in the most popular mobile computing products of its main
rival Apple, it could be that Samsung sales here in the Far East could remain
unaffected. Samsung’s version of Apple’s most popular i-Phone and i-Pad
variants are on average one-third the retail price of Apple’s – especially in
Singapore and Hong Kong. But sadly, during Monday’s (August 27, 2012) trading,
Samsung’s stocks took a rather steep dive wiping off 12 billion US dollars off
the company’s value in the greatest single day loss in the famed South Korea
based tech company.
