APPLE IS certainly not a company afraid of going to court to fight for what it believes is right. Especially since Steve Jobs returned to Cupertino in 1997, Apple has vigorously gone after other companies that it believes has in some way infringed on Apple?s copyright, product design, etc.
When Jobs introduced the first iPhone in 2007, he famously claimed Apple had filed for 200 patents just for that new device alone. Many of those patents, the ones that Apple were awarded at least, are now the basis for various law suits that Apple are involved with around the world.
What?s behind this obsession by Apple? It should come as no surprise really since Apple is a control freak in most aspects of its operations. It develops and controls its own operating system as well as the hardware for computers and mobile devices, for example. In short, Apple seems to hate relying on any outside companies, a strategy that is paying off big time if you look at the financial record of the company. There?s no better sign of this than in an interview with Jobs published in BusinessWeek in 2004, where he said he ?I?ve always wanted to own and control the primary technology in everything we do.?
Last month Apple, as a part of a consortium of companies including Microsoft and RIM, won the bid for a portfolio of more than 6,000 patents from the now bankrupt Canadian telecommunications company Nortel. The final bid was apparently $4.5 billion. Google started the bidding at $900 many months earlier but lost out in the end. These patents, now partly controlled by Apple, include many on mobile technology, including 3G and 4G wireless networking, semiconductors, voice capabilities and more. It?s safe to assume that Apple and the others will use these patents to protect their assets.
So it?s into this fierce mix of legal battles that Samsung now enters. Apple has already filed and won an injunction against Samsung in Australia barring the company from selling its 10.1 Android tablet in the country until that case has been sorted out. Similarly, a court in Germany has granted Apple a preliminary injunction, which blocks Samsung from marketing and selling the tablet across the European Union except the Netherlands where there is a separate legal action. The German court backed Apple?s claim that the Samsung infringed on Apple?s intellectual property by copying elements of the design of the iPad and iPad 2.
I?ve actually had a chance to use the Samsung Tab 10.1 as well as the Galaxy S II smartphone and I can see the resemblance to Apple?s iPad and iPhone at least in details. Closest to a match I would say is the Tab 10.1 and the iPad 2 but that?s with me looking at it as a tech enthusiast. How it looks in terms of the law I don?t know but I?m sure it?s very different. It is clear to me that Samsung is a competitor that Apple takes seriously, as evidenced by these legal cases. Samsung is also the company that does the most exciting products in both the smartphone and tablet space right now, besides Apple.
?emiratesmac@gmail.com, @mnystedt
Article source: http://n-hub.com/apple-and-its-legal-battles/
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