Apple vs. Samsung: Innovation vs. Plagiarism

Although I don’t own a smartphone or a tablet, I’ve been following the news on the ongoing lawsuit between Apple and Samsung religiously. If you’re like me, you should know that in the US, the patent infringement lawsuit rules in favor of Apple. 

I love Apple products and I am biased toward Apple. In fact, I’m typing this blog post on a MacBook Pro. This case, however, made me think about the negative message that Apple is sending to potential entrepreneurs.

As entrepreneurs, creativity, invention and innovation are essential to start businesses. Common sense tells you that creativity leads to invention and creativity plus invention equals innovation. Innovation, by my definition, simply means improving an existing entity for the betterment of society.

In my opinion, although creativity and innovation are not the same, they are similar in terms of the mutual relationship that they have with one another. Without innovation, there won’t be any room for creativity. Just imagine if mankind were not allowed to innovate. There wouldn’t be digital cameras as we see it today. We’d probably still live in caves and people would still drive steam trolleys instead of cars.

So where do we draw the line between plagiarism and innovation?

All I can say is that potential entrepreneurs might be afraid to innovate for fear of hurting their reputation as a result of the ugly battle between Apple and Samsung. Businesses should probably think twice about the future of innovation before they start suing each other for plagiarism.  

Until then, you can view some of Samsung's advertisements at the following link, which may or may not be an act of retaliation toward Apple (Apple fans be warned): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DateFKa5j_c


Nadiah Johari