After hearing of the virtual battles between companies, I thought it would be interesting to do some research on the topic. By the end of my research it was clear that it is more like a 'cold war'. Research illustrated that last year alone, companies spent over $20 billion arming themselves with patent ammunition.
Google, Apple and Microsoft are the main players and the numbers are astounding. Google spent $12.5 billion last August buying 17,000 patents. But what is more impressive are the amount of patents governing one tech device. Your smartphone has an average of 250,000 patents. The graphic illustration of this war, on the left, is perhaps one of the clearest indicators why many people feel that the patent system is broken and is detrimental to innovation. Even Apple CEO Tim Cook, arguably one of the main culprits, said the patent system is "broken".
I can't believe that a smartphone has over 250k patents. This system is clearly broken and need to address by the congress. Otherwise, we will have less innovations, less choices, and higher price.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy how the cliche "all roads lead to Rome" also applies to Apple in that picture. I imagine that there are Apple lawyers who are dedicated to researching arguments used by Microsoft or Google lawyers in suits brought against other companies and pre-drafting rebuttals to their arguments.
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