Apple v Samsung - Who Really Won?

The paradoxes of "litigation" are becoming clear in the infamous Apple v. Samsung case--the winners? Lawyers ($$$) and Android:

Check, Please: Experts Say Apple, Samsung Face Sky-High Legal Fees - Law Blog - WSJ: "One group was always going to make out well in the titanic legal battle between Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.: the lawyers. . . ."

Why Apple Actually Lost to Samsung | John C. Dvorak | PCMag.com: "Several times throughout the case, the same point was driven home: the Android phone is identical to, and perhaps better than, the iPhone. This "revelation," which Android users have always known, will easily cost Apple more than a billion dollars in sales."

Where this leaves Apple long-term becomes troubling. Over time, android and its various manufacturers will continue to iterate and out-innovate Apple. Apple concedes it cannot compete on "price." Apple's market share will diminish and it will at some point be spending more in legal fees than it will be able to recoup in damages or by restraint of trade and competition through legal processes. Steve Jobs was a guy I admire--but he had character defects as we all do. One of those was an imagined sense of being a "victim" of "rip-off" of designs, etc. A classic example of this was the accusation he hurled at Bill Gates and Microsoft:

Microsoft News » Bill Gates Response To Steve Jobs On Windows Rip-Off Claim: "Their meeting was in Jobs’s conference room, where Gates found himself surrounded by ten Apple employees who were eager to watch their boss assail him. Jobs didn’t disappoint his troops. “You’re ripping us off!” he shouted. “I trusted you, and now you’re stealing from us!” Gates just sat there coolly, looking Steve in the eye, before hurling back, in his squeaky voice, what became a classic zinger. “Well, Steve, I think there’s more than one way of looking at it. I think it’s more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it.”"

Tim Cook is a competent manager but he's not a "product guy" nor does he strike me as being "litigation saavy." I wonder if he understands that lawyers will gladly ride Apple's decline all the way to bankruptcy and liquidation?

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole