Over the weekend, round one of Apple's lawsuit against Samsung came to an end, with the verdict finding Samsung guilty of patent infringement and responsible for damages to Apple exceeding $1 billion. What, you may ask, were the patents in question which Samsung so shamelessly stole? Well, as is enumerated in Forbes magazine by Hayden Shaughnessy, they were related to design. None of these "features" were really innovative. It is patently ludicrous (see what I did there) to assign a patent to a shape (rounded corners on a rectangular phone). I have no idea what goes on in assigning a patent or copyright, but there clearly should be better standards than what currently exist. The "pinch to zoom" feature that was also included in the lawsuit is a means of input, not a mind-blowing concept that defines the pinnacle of innovation and whose use by other companies clearly hurts the business of Apple. If that were the case, then the first computer company to use a keyboard as an input device should have been able to patent that. According to the Church of Jobs, that is likely their fault for not doing so.
This strikes at the heart of the matter, which is Apple's hubris. Since the inception of the company, it has defined itself as the cutting edge of innovation. In reality, the company has been very good at two things, which are user-friendly designs and bilking the gullible. If you don't believe me on the latter, just wait to see the lines that form up for the new iPhone 5, which will not be any real improvement over the iPhone 4. I can envision a Retina Plus display coming out at some point, which will boast a resolution greater than the eye can detect and which will be the toast of the iCommunity. I only hope that the process of our courts will get this ridiculous verdict overturned. Otherwise, I may need to delete this blog post before Apple comes after me for using their names in vain.
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