In a world with increasingly sophisticated technology, the smartphone patent war is something that is at the heart of the changing technology landscape. There are multibillion dollar corporations that are suing each other for multiple patent rights in different states and even sometimes in different countries. This includes the famous Samsung vs. Apple, but that is just the most notable one. There are many companies with similar claims that they own patents and that Company X or Company Y, has infringed upon those rights. In addition, companies are purchasing patents in the order of billions of dollars to protect themselves and earn potential money through the litigation process. This has led to a rise in litigation in corporate America, one flushed with the money of a patent war that doesn't ever seem to be ending.
Although this patent war has generally pinned companies against each other, there are times where patents have been conducive to multiple parties. Samsung and Google, in a laudable fashion, decided to "cross-license some existing and future patents", saying that the move would reduce the amount of litigation between the companies and instead drive the focus toward innovation. This form of engagement between companies is incredible especially during a time of intense patent dispute. Focusing on the technology rather than who owns it is good for everybody and will hopefully start a movement of collaboration and maybe even patent-sharing. Though these large multibillion dollar companies can always lay claim to intellectual property infringement, it is optimistic to me when they put aside their differences and work to improve technology and by extension life for consumers of both their products.
http://www.economywatch.com/news/samsung-google-patents-agreement.27-01.html
Yash, I actually wrote about a similar situation between Cisco and Google in my blog post. I agree. I think these corporations also feel the drag caused by litigation in both innovation and company image.
ReplyDeleteI think going on in the future we will see more license and royalty agreements and a lessening of these patent feuds. But I don't think that patent litigation will be gone completely for quite sometime. That would require an overhaul to the current patent system.
Hi Yash, great post. Similar to you, I think it's very interesting how companies – even the ones who publicly attack each other, such as Samsung and Apple – can come together when their interests are aligned. Ah, corporate America. Maybe there is hope for collaboration in the near future, after all.
ReplyDeleteI am learning so much from you! Keep the information coming. Honestly, do you mind if I sit with you face to face so I can interview you? I would love to record you as well so I can watch our interview afterwards. Thanks in advance!
ReplyDeleteYash, you're definitely right that collaborating on technology to encourage innovation is the right thing to do. However, it's unfortunate that this only happens in cases where companies have aligning interests. The probable reason for the Samsung-Google collaboration is that almost all Samsung smartphones run on Google's Android operating system. Naturally, the two products depend on each other for survival, so it makes economic sense for them to collaborate. I would be interested to see an example of two competitors collaborating for the good of the industry and for the good of technology.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, you have a beautiful smile. Your picture on the side of the page was so distracting that I could hardly keep my focus on your blog post ;)
Akshay Jagadeesh makes a good point about the cross-licensing like that of Samsung-Google's being only made between companies that are on one side, which only seems obvious and standard. It would be more interesting to see how cross-licensing between two opposing companies will alter the smartphone world.
ReplyDeleteHi Yash: I completely agree with you. My blog post this week was also about the collaboration between Google and Samsung regarding sharing patents. To innovate and further the field of smartphone technology, two tech giants are putting their minds together and leaping forward rather than hindering one another in a battle in the courts. This is great to know, especially given that innovation can lead to progress, whereas court cases will set release of new technology back by years. In the end it is always a race to see who will develop the next amazing smartphone technology, and it's definitely great to see that Google and Samsung are working together on this task.
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