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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