Company/Technical Perspective:
For many companies, the benefits of patents are just too good to pass up. As a result, many technological companies involved in smartphone technology have focused on maintaining and acquiring patents.
Historically, the smartphone patent war has been going on for years with different companies involved such as Apple and Samsung. With so many companies suing each other over infringements, it begs the question to at what point does the infringement cases appear to be too much? In some cases, the premise of some of these lawsuits can overstep the boundaries of what seems to be appropriate. Appropriate is defined to be developing and fighting over these patents to promote innovation but not cause hindrance. While proponents may argue these fights are better for the consumer and innovation, many of these litigation cases can hinder the technology and product development. Forcing groups without patents to seek an alternative design can be discouraging and put strain on the company. Companies may not be inclined to innovate and provide more negative problems with the group. Certain people may believe that the smartphone market should regulate itself. In reality, the market is wasteful through this self-regulation since companies forced to build new products due to patent infringement have to spend more resources to try to innovate (no guarantee the attempt would be successful).
It is also important to consider the needs of the consumer or people purchasing smartphone technology. For the smartphone wars, the companies may be trying to get the technology that consumers desire most. These features can be graphical widgets or even gestures. The smartphone wars can be viewed as a theater front that targets the consumer brain. The consumer desires high quality products at low costs and so the tech companies would want these patents to maintain revenue and be able to make products at reasonable costs. It may be necessary to look at policies related to patents and see what would be necessary to maintain the interest of both the companies and the consumers.
Historically, the smartphone patent war has been going on for years with different companies involved such as Apple and Samsung. With so many companies suing each other over infringements, it begs the question to at what point does the infringement cases appear to be too much? In some cases, the premise of some of these lawsuits can overstep the boundaries of what seems to be appropriate. Appropriate is defined to be developing and fighting over these patents to promote innovation but not cause hindrance. While proponents may argue these fights are better for the consumer and innovation, many of these litigation cases can hinder the technology and product development. Forcing groups without patents to seek an alternative design can be discouraging and put strain on the company. Companies may not be inclined to innovate and provide more negative problems with the group. Certain people may believe that the smartphone market should regulate itself. In reality, the market is wasteful through this self-regulation since companies forced to build new products due to patent infringement have to spend more resources to try to innovate (no guarantee the attempt would be successful).
It is also important to consider the needs of the consumer or people purchasing smartphone technology. For the smartphone wars, the companies may be trying to get the technology that consumers desire most. These features can be graphical widgets or even gestures. The smartphone wars can be viewed as a theater front that targets the consumer brain. The consumer desires high quality products at low costs and so the tech companies would want these patents to maintain revenue and be able to make products at reasonable costs. It may be necessary to look at policies related to patents and see what would be necessary to maintain the interest of both the companies and the consumers.
From the company's view, the patents are necessary and worth the legal fights. Recently, Google sold Motorola to Lenovo. However, the Motorola manufacturer was sold and not the patents. This offer emphasizes the importance of patents to companies to give them the competitive edge and prevent people from stepping on the finding. On average, patents can take three years or more to be filed and approved. With this slow process, current patents become more attractive than ever for the technology companies. The fate of some of the large technology companies rely on dominance in the smartphone space.
References:
Norman,
ReplyDeleteInteresting perspective on how innovation works and how the patent wars are affecting that innovation. Thanks for sharing the perspective.
Can you explain further what you mean by “The smartphone wars can be viewed as a theater front that targets the consumer brain” ?
ReplyDeleteAddendum:
DeleteThe smartphone wars can be considered a front for targeting the consumer brain since companies tend to focus on a few points that address the wants of the consumer.
For background, the consumer brain is the notion that people purchasing these products are looking for quality, availability and the best deal. In pursuing patent wars, companies are attempting to cut the competition down and make it difficult to fulfill these main desires by consumers. For example, a company being forced to make a new product to circumvent the patent infringement. In comparison to the competitor that won the lawsuit, the company may have a product that is good but not as good as the competitor's product. Addressing these key features of a consumer does drive some of the smartphone patent war. By winning these patents, the company can be assured of safely gaining profit on technology that consumers do buy.