Hussein Shobokshi I love a good story on competition. I mean stories with the excitement, the drama, the suspense and the happy ending. All the essential elements are there for a cracker of a good story. In the business world this type of stories carry a lot of weight with some serious consequences. Who doesn't remember the battle between Pepsi and Coke? Or KFC and McDonalds? Starbucks versus Dunkin Donuts? Nike versus Adidas? Ford versus GM? And now we have a new clash of the titans shaping up in the world of mobile handheld phones. It's the Apple versus Samsung show of shows. Apple claimed that it had its patents and intellectual copyright infringed by Samsung. That claim went to court in the US and a jury awarded Apple a historic judgment that said Samsung violated copyright laws and asked the Korean conglomerate giant to pay Apple over a billion US dollars in damages. Apple has had a long history of feeling victimized by its competitors. It's no secret that the Windows operating system was a clone and a copy of Apple's avant-garde Mac operating system. Even the operating system of the currently successful iPhone, Apple's great commercial hit, has been copied by the largely successful Android operating system created by the search giant Google. It is a vicious world out there, the big prize is lucrative enough to justify all sorts of tactics to “copy” and conquer the markets. I have had an interesting discussion with a smart commercial lawyer after the Apple's verdict. I was trying to figure out and understand the impact of such a ruling on the commercial world. Now that there is a precedence, a huge gate has swung wide open for future cases. Can competing auto companies sue each other and could sport-sneakers manufacturers do the same thing? The scenarios stretch far and wide but it is heating up and needed change. This ruling is a victory for originality, for laws, for creativity. It will force competition back to the drawing board and reinvent the wheel! It is a great kick in one's behind that will benefit the customers and the market at the end of the day. Steve Jobs vowed to fight Google and Samsung to the very end for “stealing” his ideas that were used to compete against his own company. He never lived to see that day but this is another way to thank and reward him. Rest in peace Steve Jobs, you won another round. That's your iVerdict!
