Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturing giant, has sued three major Japanese corporations over patent infringement. These Japanese corporations are major players in the market for producing electronics as well as many other consumer goods and include Japanese manufacturing giants Mitsubishi, Toshiba, and Funai Corp.
This case is of note because Foxconn is the world's largest manufacturer of electronics and is responsible for many of the most used electronic consumer devices on the market, including those made by Apple, Sony, and Nokia. Though there are not yet many details out, this case may have something to do with the battle between Apple and Samsung over the smartphone patent market.
This is indicative of the new innovations that are happening in the high technology sector, with specific regards to consumer electronics. This is an extremely competitive market and new inventions keep coming out every few years. This sort of case really does force us to ask the question: should something be changed about the patent industry so that we don't see a new patent infringement case every other day?
I believe that the USPTO needs to seriously revisit the intellectual property laws that surround how patents are granted to the technology industry. The fact that these companies keep suing each other is indicative of the fact that competition is happening, not that intellectual property violation is happening. When different companies invent similar products to the benefit of the consumer, that is something our system should strive to encourage, not discourage. Furthermore, the smartphone industry has produced so many products that are very similar in many ways (appearance, design), but have many different features. By encouraging companies to learn from their competitors and produce an even better product with cooler features, we would be helping to advance the smartphone market, rather than hold it back.
This is a serious flaw with the intellectual property system that must be examined and rectified by the USPTO.
Sources:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/taiwans-foxconn-sues-japanese-companies-over-patent-claims-1403697706
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Foxconn-sues-Toshiba-Mitsubishi-over-patent-violation/articleshow/37194301.cms
This case is of note because Foxconn is the world's largest manufacturer of electronics and is responsible for many of the most used electronic consumer devices on the market, including those made by Apple, Sony, and Nokia. Though there are not yet many details out, this case may have something to do with the battle between Apple and Samsung over the smartphone patent market.
This is indicative of the new innovations that are happening in the high technology sector, with specific regards to consumer electronics. This is an extremely competitive market and new inventions keep coming out every few years. This sort of case really does force us to ask the question: should something be changed about the patent industry so that we don't see a new patent infringement case every other day?
I believe that the USPTO needs to seriously revisit the intellectual property laws that surround how patents are granted to the technology industry. The fact that these companies keep suing each other is indicative of the fact that competition is happening, not that intellectual property violation is happening. When different companies invent similar products to the benefit of the consumer, that is something our system should strive to encourage, not discourage. Furthermore, the smartphone industry has produced so many products that are very similar in many ways (appearance, design), but have many different features. By encouraging companies to learn from their competitors and produce an even better product with cooler features, we would be helping to advance the smartphone market, rather than hold it back.
This is a serious flaw with the intellectual property system that must be examined and rectified by the USPTO.
Sources:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/taiwans-foxconn-sues-japanese-companies-over-patent-claims-1403697706
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Foxconn-sues-Toshiba-Mitsubishi-over-patent-violation/articleshow/37194301.cms
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