Apple Inc. (AAPL): CIOs Lamentful, Samsung Vengeful

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has said that the principle behind the patent-infringement trial vs. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. was about innovation and not about imitation. But does Apple’s virulent defense of its intellectual property all over the world actually discourage innovation, or does it encourage it? At the very least the Apple victory has some people lamenting, while it has others seeking revenge.

Some corporate IT executives think if the jury’s decision holds, it might do the former rather than the latter in terms of innovation. A recent blog post was based on feedback from several chief information officers, who believe in general that the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) victory will be looked upon as Apple having a monopoly on intellectual property, and thus will stunt the grown of tech innovations. The verdict, says Covanta Energy CIO Stuart Kippelman, may force Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows phones to delay or slow down development  of devices to ensure that their legal departments won’t be served with papers by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). “That could stifle innovation,” he said, saying that delays in production will limit competition in the market during any sales season, and that would ultimately give more power to Apple in the market – power that will be hard to wrest away.

In the vengeful department is Samsung. While the company considers appealing the jury verdict in the U.S., and is yet enjoying a partial victory in South Korea last week and a more recent win in Japan,  the South Korean handset manufacturer is seeking to ban the new iPhone 5 from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) from the South Korea marketplace. This is partly based on the South Korea court decision that Apple did infringe on a couple patents, but also it’s possible that Samsung will use a strategy it tried to ban earlier iPhones – saying that Apple products cant be used on an LTE wireless network without using Samsung patents, which are all over the wireless network.