The Electronic Frontier Foundation has issued a statement on the Apple vs. Samsung patent trials saying that the two companies should fight in the marketplace, not court.
This lawsuit has garnered much attention, but it's just the latest in a long line of intellectual property cases between parties big and small that abuse the system and misallocate valuable resources (you might remember such recent hits at Oracle v. Google and the Eolas debacle). The high costs of this litigation - usually well into the millions of dollars in a single case before any damages are even awarded - are often spread over many lawsuits, as parties take these fights to courts all over the country and the world. And it's not just the costs of litigation, but that companies feel a need to grow their own patent arsenal defensively. Taken together, these outrageous patent expenses are often ultimately borne by the consumer in the form of higher prices. Even worse, each dollar that is spent on lawyers and litigation costs is not spent on growing businesses, investing in R&D, hiring more employees, or otherwise benefiting our recovering economy.
The foundation has posted some proposals on how to fix the patent system at defendinnovation.org. They are also supporting pending legislation that will make it harder to bring bad lawsuits and easier to fight back.
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This lawsuit has garnered much attention, but it's just the latest in a long line of intellectual property cases between parties big and small that abuse the system and misallocate valuable resources (you might remember such recent hits at Oracle v. Google and the Eolas debacle). The high costs of this litigation - usually well into the millions of dollars in a single case before any damages are even awarded - are often spread over many lawsuits, as parties take these fights to courts all over the country and the world. And it's not just the costs of litigation, but that companies feel a need to grow their own patent arsenal defensively. Taken together, these outrageous patent expenses are often ultimately borne by the consumer in the form of higher prices. Even worse, each dollar that is spent on lawyers and litigation costs is not spent on growing businesses, investing in R&D, hiring more employees, or otherwise benefiting our recovering economy.
The foundation has posted some proposals on how to fix the patent system at defendinnovation.org. They are also supporting pending legislation that will make it harder to bring bad lawsuits and easier to fight back.
Read More