The Apple Corporation got a hold of a microchip that the University of Wisconsin had developed, which could boost the performance of computer processors. The microchips had been placed in some Apple products without the University's permission, causing this issue to be taken to court. The jury has ordered Apple to pay more than 234 million dollars in damages for patent invasion. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation claims the jury's verdict will help to avoid any unauthorized use of their inventions in the future.
If Apple headquarters is in California and Wisconsin is not exactly in close proximity with it, how was Apple able to get the chip? And why wouldn't they suggest a partnership, so that nothing was illegal and both profited. In a way this reminds me of "no taxation without representation". Apple might have not claimed that they had placed the University's chip in their products while selling them, but they kind of put words into someone else's mouth, if that makes sense. They took credit where credit wasn't due. Which is what Parliament and the British government did for the colonists. They enforced laws for the colonies thinking of them as the best for their new pawns, but the colonies never claimed to want any of it. In both cases, Apple and the University of Wisconsin and the colonies and England, if both sides had easily cooperated, what would have become of their relationships? Would there be a productive partnership in the technology world? Would we be called the United States?
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34559232
Smooth connection. I'd do the A-ok hand gesture, but I can't do it on a computer. How unfortunate...like Wisconsin's patent invasion. Oh snap!
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