Samsung vs apple – battle of the giants

SAMSUNG VS APPLE-BATTLE OF THE GIANTS

Today’s global market has comp it is difficult to define the line of ethics; more specifically the line of ethical behavior with technological products and their patents. An example of this behavior Apple vs. Samsung and the constant and ongoing lawsuits involved with the two technology giants. Both companies are ethical satisfying their stakeholders to include customers, employees, shareholders, and board members. They offer great benefits, above average pay, superior management, barely any employee complaints. These businesses are truly respectable and a cut above most others; however, both companies are unethical in their approach to be claimed as the technology king. Ethics plays a vital role in these companies because each claims of idea theft backed by the constant patents that occur with each software or hardware update. It is unethical to steal ideas and make profit off of these ideas and potentially unethical to hold a monopoly on a trillion dollar smart phone market because of an idea.

The line is so thin on its ethical behavior that it has been in the court room for almost 3 years. In August 2012, it was mandated Samsung pay Apple $1.02 billion in damages because of patent theft, but there is not just one lawsuit. Lawsuits vary from look, feel, sound, performance, software, hardware, encryption, and more (Parish). For ethical practices, it is common to file lawsuits for this kind of theft; however, the line of unethical practices is drawn when the idea itself is replicated. It seems both companies are claiming to be the originators of the basic fundamentals of a smart phone and will stop at no expense in the courtroom to topple the other.

The unethical approach of these two companies is to generate a monopoly on the market which they are trying so hard to accomplish. Because the goal of any company is to make profit it is hard to see where the companies are being unethical. A recent update was that Apple tried to include the Samsung Galaxy S4 to its patent case against Samsung. In my opinion, the unethical result of these two companies approach to monopolization of the smart phone market comes with their never-ending lawsuits costing time consumption of the courts and slowing research and development in fear of more lawsuits to come. This is a growth slowdown for a global economy because of their monopolization goal.