Technology is everywhere we look nowadays. There’s technology in our smartphones, our
TV’s and even our doors. It has helped us achieve many things. However there
have been many issues regarding multinational technology companies falling out.
One of the major stories involving two of the biggest technology firms is South
Korean company Samsung and America Corporation Apple. There are many lawsuits that these two
companies have put against each other for the design of their respected phones
and tablets. The first lawsuit began in the spring of 2011 and by August 2011
Apple and Samsung were litigating 19 on-going cases, in nine countries. In July 2012 the two companies were involved
in a staggering 50 lawsuits between each other, with billions of dollars of
damages claimed against each other. While Apple won a ruling in its favor in
the U.S., Samsung won rulings in South Korea, Japan, and the UK. Apples first
lawsuit was because of the comparison between the Apple iPhone 3GS and the Samsung
Galaxy i9000 which Apple provided comparison photos. Later on these photos were
found to be tampered with to match dimensions and style.
Recently Taiwanese firm HTC and Apple had a very public dispute
between each other. Apple accused HTC of ‘cloning products’ and coping features
such as ‘pinch to zoom’. After a lengthy court case they reached a global
settlement that included the dismissal of all current lawsuits and a ten-year
license agreement. The license extends to current and future patents held by
both parties. According to the document, Apple main concern was the alleged
cloning of iPhone's slide-to-unlock prompt at the bottom of the screen as
something that "could qualify as a distinctive Apple user experience;
however, a different animation (for example, a bubble slider) or an animation
at another location ... would not be considered substantially similar and would
not consitute a cloned feature."
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| Apple sued Samsung over simlarlities over the iPhone 3GS and Samsung S i9000 |
The terms of the settlement are confidential. During a press
conference CEO of HTC, Peter Chou said “HTC is pleased to have resolved its
dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation.”
After the court case, CEO of Apple Tim Cook stated “We are glad to have reached
a settlement with HTC,” said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. “We will continue to stay
laser focused on product innovation.”
Moving away from smartphones, Social Network giant Facebook
has also faced many lawsuits over privacy issues and what they do with personal
information of its users. Another one of Facebook’s company Instagram, has also
faced its fear share of court cases. In its Term of Services it stated
"may share User Content and your information (including but not limited
to, information from cookies, log files, device identifiers, location data, and
usage data)" with Facebook. This court case is going to keep on going and
who knows when it’ll stop.
People sue other people for the stupidest reasons nowadays
Technology companies seem to get into quite a few lawsuits.
They get into legal trouble over the silliest such as Google getting sued over
giving bad directions and a Dutch woman trying to sue Pentium over allegedly
being allergic to processer.
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