The victory of Apple against Samsung in the
famous patent case indicates the arrival of hard days for its rivals. Samsung
has termed its defeat as loss to
consumers; on the contrary, Apple has termed its victory as the gain for
the American patent system and innovation. The judgment is symptomatic of the
high investment in innovation to be made by Apple’s rivals, which indicates
higher costs for everyone.
Though, Samsung will have to pay $1.05 billion to
Apple. But ultimately, it is its customers, who will have to pay higher prices
as the device manufacturers pay more to Apple for license of the technology
they already use. It would result in several Samsung and Android devices going
out of the market, whereby the consumer will face shortage of choice.
Following are the devices that will be adversely
affected:
1. Galaxy
S,
2. Galaxy
S II,
3. Nexus
S,
4. Mesmerize,
5. Vibrant,
6. Fascinate,
7. Skyrocket,
8. Continuum,
9. Prevail,
10. Infuse,
11. Gem,
12. Mesmerize,
13. Indulge,
14. Replenish,
15. Epic 4G
Touch,
16. Droid
Charge,
17. Nexus S
smart-phones
18. Galaxy Tab
and
19. Galaxy Tab
10.1
The verdict may result in a gain for Apple in
terms of market share and profits in the form of sharp rise in its share prices
after the verdict. But the verdict does not lie in the favour of consumers for
many reasons.
Choice and competition must prevail in the
market, which is not going to be the aftermath of the decision. This may make
the losers unite to take revenge from Apple to often beat Apple in whichever
way they can.
Further, as observed by Judge Richard Posner in an earlier
Apple versus Motorola case, Apple often adopts patent litigation as a tool not
for safeguarding breakthrough innovation, but to stall and delay competitors.
Conclusively, there is an open question. Does the verdict favour the market and
consumers of smart-phones?
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