Although it isn’t perfect, I have faith in our legal system and believe the process (which isn’t over by any means) will determine which laws or patents were violated and assess damages appropriately.
The debate about whether patent violations stifle innovation is the hot topic among the tech community. “Apple steals stuff, too” and “Samsung is only making Apple and others be more creative, which is good for the consumers” are the common arguments. The silver bullet is to bring out the quote from Steve Jobs, who was quoting Picaso, when he said “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.”. But this is the problem with sounds bites, they lose their meaning when separated from the greater conversation. In the interview, Jobs was discussing how the original Macintosh was designed and created. Like an artist, he was explaining where the computer scientists that were working on the project drew their inspiration from. The key is that these stolen ideas were then used to create something new, not a close copy of another product. That is innovation.
I relate the issue to the music industry. Musicians have a finite quantity of notes to assemble and arrange. Songwriters often speak of those who’ve inspired them, and often you can hear those influences in their work. But when the song resembles another song too closely, legal action follows (ie. George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” v. “He’s So Fine” by the Chiffons). Other times, another’s music isn’t just influenced, parts are copied (Vanilla Ice’s use of Queen’s riff from “Under Pressure” in his “Ice Ice Baby” song). In these cases, it is obvious that new songs were created but the original artists were awarded compensation for their innovative ideas and creations. If Samsung is the Vanilla Ice of the tech industry, Apple is the Dire Straits. In their song “Money For Nothing”, Mark Knopfler tries to make an argument about the ridiculous perception many have of musicians, but most people didn’t get the meaning. They just tapped their foot and thought, “That’s right! Musicians don’t really work, they just play music”. Maybe I should write a song about how computer scientists don’t really work, they just play with computers.
That ain’t workin’
That’s the way you do it
You play those games on your Apple TV
That ain’t workin’
That’s the way you do it
You get your money for nothin’
And your chips for free
