Author: Kyle Burgess
In today's high-tech society, flooded with free services and open source software, it is easy to forget the important role that intellectual property (IP) plays in the development of new technologies that we use every day. In fact, intellectual property rights can not only protect the interests of those companies that hold patent rights, it can also promote economic development, and in particular, promote employment growth in high-paying industries. In addition, protection of intellectual property rights can promote competition and encourage innovation; and encourage companies to invest their resources in solving the challenges of the world's most difficult problems.
Consumers are the direct beneficiaries of such inventions and innovations. Intellectual property rights can ensure the reliability of goods and services, enable consumers to have the right to know and make choices about the quality and safety of the goods and services they purchase, and thus protect the normal rights of consumers.
On the contrary, with the continuous proliferation of patent infringement in recent years, when intellectual property rights are infringed, investors will transfer funds to non-IPR-intensive markets to reduce their investment in R&D. When the incentives for intellectual property development finally disappeared, consumers became the most affected group. In the short term, they may see a steady drop in commodity prices, but in the long run, consumers will not be able to continue to enjoy more technological advances that can improve their quality of life.
The importance of intellectual property rights is now highlighted in a high-risk conflict between the two major technology giants. Qualcomm, a wireless technology leader, is caught in a lawsuit against smartphone giant Apple. Apple accuses Qualcomm of charging excessive patent fees for the technology used on the iPhone and challenging Qualcomm’s non-competitive patent licensing model. At the same time, Qualcomm insisted that Apple's patent licensing fees were low and unreasonable.
Why should consumers pay attention to this legal dispute?
Litigation materials show that Apple has significantly lowered the speed of Qualcomm's chips and placed consumers at the center of the dispute. Apple uses Qualcomm's chips in the Verizon Carrier's iPhone 7 series, while the iPhone 7 series sold by AT&T sells Intel chips. However, not all chips have the same performance. The Qualcomm chips used in the Verizon version have technically faster data transfer rates than Intel chips. However, independent testing found that although the chips used in the two versions of the mobile phone are different, their operating speeds are very close. Bloomberg News has reported that the Verizon version of the iPhone using Qualcomm is still faster, "but it did not reach its proper speed," suggesting that Apple interfered with the iPhone 7 series phones purchased by Verizon users. The use of baseband processor speeds has prevented them from enjoying the superior performance of Qualcomm technology.
At present, Apple has not issued any official comments on this allegation. In fact, ZDNet reported that Apple had threatened Qualcomm’s company from revealing the fact that Apple’s restrictions and weakened its technical performance.
Apple stated that it will not comment on the cause of this practice or the event itself, but it is clear that, as some of the points of view have said, Apple has weakened the processing speed of Qualcomm to make its "suppliers in a state of balance." , which in turn reduces its own production costs. This also means that Apple intentionally prevented consumers from enjoying faster data processing and denied that Qualcomm had a competitive advantage over its main rival. This is like having LeBron James wear the Moon shoes to play the game so that he can lower his price in the next contract. Cleveland Cavaliers fans will absolutely not tolerate this malicious impediment, and consumers should not tolerate Apple's intention to reduce Qualcomm's chip performance.
Some speculations point out that Apple just hopes that the performance of the iPhone 7 series phones it sells will remain the same. The reason is: the performance difference may disappoint consumers and affect the sales of the AT&T iPhone, affecting the Apple and the operator. Relationship. But in the process, Apple Corp. tried to deprive Qualcomm of the rights to develop better-performing chips, which in essence encouraged Intel to provide products with poorer performance.
In addition, the Verizon version of the iPhone’s user’s mobile phone speed has been unfairly reduced, while AT&T’s users are not affected. If consumers spend money on higher-tech products, then regardless of which carrier they purchase the iPhone, shouldn't they fully enjoy the full benefits of the product? Perhaps Apple's approach is legal, but this does not mean that this approach is reasonable for users. More importantly, Apple has no right to mislead users - before they had publicly stated that the phones equipped with Qualcomm and Intel modems "have no apparent difference in speed".
For consumers, the best result is that the two companies reach a settlement to resolve the lawsuit. Long lawsuits will bring more losses to consumers and will have a potential impact on the iPhone's supply. There are precedents for such settlements: In 2014, Microsoft sued Samsung in a patent dispute, and in the end the two companies reached a settlement with an undisclosed sum and still maintained a good business relationship.
This legal dispute on patent licensing fees may have a significant impact. In short, intellectual property is very important. When companies conduct long-term R&D investments, these inputs must be rewarded. Otherwise, they will not be able to continue investing in future innovations. And this will probably lead consumers to use only relatively poor products.
Apple should be open-minded about its ability to differentiate mobile phones, and consumers should be able to fully use the full capabilities of their devices. Why not provide consumers with value for money products? In particular, it is particularly expensive compared to the price of its popular products such as smart phones and mobile devices. (Compiled from: Forbes author is the oldest consumer organization in the United States - Executive Director of "Consumer Research")
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