The recent win of Samsung in the lawsuit filed by Apple on the infringement of the patents has started another debate among tech enthusiasts in the U.S. The debate that opened up with this judgment is whether the patent laws hold relevance in today's world, and should they be evenly applied across all the sectors.
According to Tech Crunch, the amount of money spent on the lawsuit by Apple, including lawyers cost, filing costs and other related expenses itself, exceeds the compensation which it had got when it won one case in 2014. The cost involved spending of over one billion dollars, and the compensation amount was $119.6 million.
Also, what is more surprising is the fact that the patent war raised over slide to unlock functionality, autocorrect feature and a click on the number turning it into a link in itself is not justifiable to be patented. Though the original idea of the patents was to benefit society as a whole, these issues only can hinder the way of societal promotion when the technological life cycle is too low.
According to Tech News Geek, by the time patent is filed and approved, the technology has more chances of reaching the decline stage of its lifecycle. However, patents can be really useful in the pharmaceutical industry because of the high costs incurred in the research and development of the drugs, and it becomes necessary to protect investor's interest for some period of time.
But in the case of technology, it holds relevance with start-ups only, who have idea at the core of their business model. Patent trolls now account for the majority of the lawsuit. With changing times, it becomes important to change the patent laws so that money is not wasted in stopping others from competing, but instead, in developing an ecosystem where all can be mutually benefitted in the process of creating a better future.