This Friday, May 16th, Apple and Google reached an agreement to drop all lawsuits between the two tech giants, with regards to patent infringement on their respective mobile technologies. Google, the developer of the Android smartphone operating system, and Apple the creator of the iPhone and the iOS platform, are among the two largest companies involved in the Silicon Valley tech space, and specifically in the smartphone field. Since 2010, these moguls have been suing each other back and forth for violation of various patents, and this is ultimately counterproductive to both of them.
What prompted this shift in attitudes between the two companies? Their common enemy: patent trolls. These businesses that exist solely to buy up patents and use them to sue up others are extremely damaging to the field of innovation and cost these other important companies a lot of money. These non-practicing entities have been targeting Apple and Google, as there have been nearly 200 lawsuits filed against just these two companies by patent trolls in the past few years. It is clearly in Apple and Google's interest to stop hurting each other and work towards shutting down these harmful non-practicing entities.
It is important to note that Apple has no such agreement with their main rival, hardware manufacturer Samsung, who produces many of the devices that rival the iPhone in domestic and international markets. Apple believes Samsung has violated many of its patents in copying the technology involved in the iPhone, and so has sued the South Korean electronics giant many times around the world.
It will be interesting to see the impact of this alliance on the court's attitude towards patent trolls. We have already seen that courts issued a statement allowing lawyers' fees to be collected by patent holders who lose frivolous lawsuits, a move that hopefully should deter patent trolls from frivolously suing hardworking companies like Apple and Google.
Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/16/apple-and-google-end-patent-fights/
What prompted this shift in attitudes between the two companies? Their common enemy: patent trolls. These businesses that exist solely to buy up patents and use them to sue up others are extremely damaging to the field of innovation and cost these other important companies a lot of money. These non-practicing entities have been targeting Apple and Google, as there have been nearly 200 lawsuits filed against just these two companies by patent trolls in the past few years. It is clearly in Apple and Google's interest to stop hurting each other and work towards shutting down these harmful non-practicing entities.
It is important to note that Apple has no such agreement with their main rival, hardware manufacturer Samsung, who produces many of the devices that rival the iPhone in domestic and international markets. Apple believes Samsung has violated many of its patents in copying the technology involved in the iPhone, and so has sued the South Korean electronics giant many times around the world.
It will be interesting to see the impact of this alliance on the court's attitude towards patent trolls. We have already seen that courts issued a statement allowing lawyers' fees to be collected by patent holders who lose frivolous lawsuits, a move that hopefully should deter patent trolls from frivolously suing hardworking companies like Apple and Google.
Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/16/apple-and-google-end-patent-fights/
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