Apple's Victory Over Samsung Will Only Drive More Innovation In the Industry

It's easy to copy. It's harder to Innovate. If you have ever had something stolen from you that is valuable or near-and-dear to your heart, you know how Apple's Steve Jobs must have felt when he decided to go "Thermo-Nuclear" on Google and their manufacturing partners of mobile "smart" phones.

From a high level, the notion that Apple Computers somehow "owns" a technology partly made of "rectangles with rounded corners" as Samsung so feebly tried to assert, is kind-of-true. Of course it's so general as to be laughable and I did chuckle when I read their position. But the same could be said for many ubiquitous technologies like "writing" and "letters" or the "round wheel" (the square wheels failed as a working technology so no-one copied it!). And it is true at a certain point any invention becomes "common place". Unfortunately for Samsung, even with the speed of innovation today, the court has hammered home the point that Smart Phones that mimic specifc features of Apple's iPhone/iPad are not there yet as to be so common they can be freely copied and sold by a bold faced competitor.

So, after all of the legal wrangling, Samsung has to pay Apple for cribbing their homework (which could be up to $3 billion in penalties) and, like they should have done previously, now go ahead and spend MORE money to actual create a different mouse trap and better features for THEIR smart phones and tablets. This is great news for every-day consumers!

We all love and admire Apple for their passion and innovation. Apple stores are a testament to customer service supporting fantastic technology products. And the victory in the court of law is a proof the system in the United States can indeed work to protect Intellectual Property of hard working engineers, designers and yes, the investors too, from mass theft from foreign companies hell-bent on getting to market as fast as possible.

Innovation requires actual investment in Reaserach and Development. This is something many companies cannot or will not do (based on their hard wired commitment to innovation). Apple was re-built by Steve Jobs over decades to put a premium on Innovation and Design. The evidence is now realized in massive profit for shareholders, secure work for the employees and hard won battles in both the market place and now in the court room. They vigorously defended their work on that back end of success (which as James Brown said "Copying is the highest form of flattery") and probably litigated as hard as they innovated on the front end.

Mobile developers should work in kind to continue to innovate new features and hardware/software and earn their own place in the Pantheon of Innovative companies like Apple. It's right in front of you if you can only make the commitment to work harder and create something unique. The market will respond as Apple has demonstrated with each of their products.