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Mar
12
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I keep hearing over and over that patents stifle innovation. That it is the iteration of innovation that creates new innovation. I’m sorry, but I really don’t think that’s true. The mark of true innovation is something that is truly innovative, not some mere iteration of someone else’s idea. Take, for example, the iPad. I would wager that no one would call the device innovative—after all, it’s just a giant iPod touch. But wait, it’s more than that. It’s an iteration of the technology used to make the iPod touch and iPhone. But it is far from innovative.
Innovation happens when someone breaks the mold. It happens when something new is created where there wasn’t something before. The original iPhone was an innovation in this regard. And, to those who hold up Apple’s past “transgressions” as proof that stealing ideas is ok, I also put forward the claim that the original Macintosh was an innovation. Sure, it used bits and pieces of different technologies that were already there. But, it put them together in a wholly new and innovative way.
Compare the story of the Mac’s creation with, say, the HTC phones that supposedly violate Apple’s patents. These devices aren’t taking what the iPhone started and making something new with them—they’re still just phones. I think Apple has every right to demand that HTC actually come up with something innovative rather than the derivative drivel that they’re pushing today.
