My Answers to HWCase1, Q1

[singularityswebsite]

The source of my case is:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/jul/01/apple-google-patent-case-john-naughton-comment?CMP=twt_gu
as well as
https://www.reuters.com/article/apple-samsung/update-1-apple-launches-new-legal-attack-on-samsung-phones-idUSL4E8DD0KS20120213

For additional information on their other lawsuits view https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc._litigation

Five important facts are

1. The lawsuit was started by Apple and the defendant was Google over patent infringement and Google's recent acquiring of Motorola.


2. A well-known high class judge named Richard Allen Posner got himself assigned to a lower court to deal with the case.


3. The patent Apple was suing Google over was based on the 'slide-to-unlock' feature that many phones have today.


4. Apple's reasoning for filing the lawsuit was because Google had a tap to unlock feature and Apple argued that a "tap is a zero-length swipe".


5. Posner threw the case out, but Apple has repeatedly sued other company's over similar things since the case originally occurred in 2012.

Three important questions to ask about the case are:

1. Apple has repeatedly sued companies for what most people consider basic functionality in phones, like swiping to unlock, home buttons, tap to zoom, on-screen icons, and even rectangles with rounded corners. Should companies like Apple be able to patent features such as these?


2. In many cases when companies that sue for patent infringement lose they don't experience any negative side effects. The judge threw out the case in this scenario, but Apple did not face any punishment. Should companies that pursue a patent infringement lawsuit and fail experience repercussions?


3. After having seen what Apple has done with patents in the tech field, many feel that they are stifling Innovation in the industry. Apple was the first company to have a major release in the smart phone field so it can be argued that they are right in their defense of this technology. Do you think that they are vindicated in their lawsuits, or do you think they are abusing the patent system? And if you don't agree, what could be done to fix the system they abuse?

Three additional standard questions:

• What does virtue ethics say about this case?


• What does utilitarianism say about this case?


• What does deontology say about this case?

Comments

Answer to Question 1

[ethicalprofessinalism]

Was Apple the first one to have a Lock Screen on a phone? Was apple the first one to have an always on display? Was apple the first one to put Touch ID on a phone? The answer to all of these is no. Are they all features of an iPhone? yes. Its always a tough question of where to draw the line with copyright infringement, especially in a space where copying the competitors is so frequent. I don't know if I can say if the amount of copying that goes on in the smart phone industry is ethical or not, but the utilitarian in me would be quick to point out its benefits. The experience I have on my iphone is constantly improving because of the improvements that Android makes. Likewise Android is constantly improving because of the improvements that IOS makes. It's one of the reasons that smart phones have improved so rapidly in the fifteen years since the first iphone came out.