Comm 352 Blog 1: Samsung vs Apple

It was a roughly 2 weeks ago the United States courts ruled in favor of Apple in there suit against Samsung. In the lawsuit, Apple claimed that Samsung violated there copyrighted patents on certain apps and features on Samsung IOS phones. The amount of damage estimated by Apple was proected to be 450,000,000 dollars claiming such Samsung phones as the Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II Epic 4G, Droid Charge, Galaxy Prevail, and Galaxy S Showcase violated there patents on certain features and thus should be removed from the market in the United States. The issue has me split on the topic. While I do feel a man's invention and right to use that invention for profit should be protected, I feel that Apple has gone to an extreme here where they're using it as an excuse to kill Samsung. I say this because of the whole notion that this has damaged Apple's finances somehow. I can get where it damaged it in the sense of that Apple has likely spent 450,000,000 dollars on lawyers but the honest question I raise here is, "Will a consumer really mistaken Samsung products for Apple's?" It isn't as if Samsung blantantly copied and pasted everything from the iPhone onto there phone and called it some b.s. name like the iFone or even iOS, they took the premise of the apps and modified them to try and make something with a difference, which is something that has been going on in computer technology since at least the 70's. That is sorta the idea with patents, you have a copyright on something you created but at some point people are allowed to take the premise behind them and make there own, even if its a similar interface and everything. I see this as somewhat of a setback for the iOS Phone industry as it forces people to either create from scratch or be deathly afraid of Apple throwing its weight around and suing people left and right. Either way, its a win for Apple on terms of there profit, a major loss for Samsung and likely an even bigger loss for any developer or consumer out there. I can only hope that this doesn't discourage progress in the computer world and doesn't lead to more things like this down the road where Apple tries to continue its obsession with ruling the world in technology. Scary times be ahead in this case.