In recent times, as the pace of technological development has ramped up, so has the number of lawsuits being exchanged between major tech giants. These lawsuits often involve accusations of patent infringement and with time, are only increasing in numbers. For instance, Apple alone has been involved in a total of 148 lawsuits from 2006 to this day. A NYT info-graphic quite aptly shows this.
While six of these 148 lawsuits are class-action lawsuits obviously brought forth by the common users, the rest of the lawsuits are between Apple and other companies. It is interesting to note that Apple is entangled in a legal battle with nearly every other major tech company in the mobile arena.
Take, for instance, Nokia. Apple and Nokia don’t really seem to have any direct links. Nokia is currently treading through troubled waters, trying to make its Lumia lineup a success and barely surviving through the cut-throat competition in the smartphone market. However, back in 2006, Nokia decided to sue Apple and then Apple counter-sued Nokia. In 2011, both settled with Apple agreeing to pay Nokia a substantial sum of money.
When it comes to HTC, Apple was the one who took the first step. Steve Jobs, apparently trying to counter the onslaught of Android and the alleged infringements of Apple’s patents in the OS, decided to go ahead and sue HTC. Apple has also sued Samsung, another of Google’s Android partners, as well as Motorola Mobility which was recently acquired by Google.
In a way, most of Apple’s legal battles seem pitted again Google even when the company has never directly sued Google. Of course apart from being in a legal feud with Apple, these aforementioned giants in the mobile arena are also suing each other over different patent infringements.
In all, the tech arena is a really messy cobweb of patent infringements, with every company suing nearly every other company. The only tech giant that seems relatively safe from this is Google.
Source: NYT
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