Lawsuit Apple v Samsung: Ethical Challenges and Decision Making

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Governance and Business Ethics
Lawsuit Apple v Samsung

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Executive Summary
The aim of this report is to analyse the case study titled “Lawsuit Apple v/s Samsung” in order
to evaluate the background of this case and identify the key ethical challenges raised in this
case in relation to the violation of business ethical principles. The history of the organisations
involved in the case are analysed, which include Apple and Samsung, and the key facts of the
case are highlighted in the discussion. An argument is made, which is supported by applying
Utilitarianism and Deontology ethical theories. It is concluded based on the ethical principles
that the actions of Samsung are unethical since the company has violated its duties by
infringing the patent rights of Apple due to which the imposition of penalties is an ethical
decision.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................3
1.1 Background......................................................................................................................3
1.2 Importance of the Issue....................................................................................................3
2. History of the Organisation.................................................................................................4
3. Discussion of the Case........................................................................................................4
4. Argument............................................................................................................................5
5. Ethical Decision Making Approaches and Theories...........................................................6
6. Conclusion..........................................................................................................................8
7. References...........................................................................................................................9

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1. Introduction
In today’s competitive business world, organisations are facing fierce competition which
leads to increasing the number of scenarios involving illegal and unethical practices by
companies which have raised the importance of effective compliance with corporate
governance and business ethics principles (Kim and Song, 2013). The objective of this report
is to evaluate the case study titled “Lawsuit Apple v/s Samsung” in order to identify the key
ethical issues raised in the case and evaluation of ethical decision making approaches and
theories (Acasestudy, n.d.).
1.1 Background
The issue at hand is relating to the violation of patents by technology companies and how
they get away with it or face legal penalties for them. In this case, Samsung is found guilty by
the court for violating the patents of Apple, and the jury imposed penalty on the company for
failing to comply with these guidelines (Gahran, 2012). This is a major issue which affects
companies such as Samsung that relies on the Android operating system to manage their
devices since they find it difficult to include features in their devices without violating
prevailing patents. Since many of the patents are deliberately violated by Samsung, the
amount of penalty is high on the company which is also likely to affect the interest of
customers since the prices of its products will hike (Acasestudy, n.d.). The issue of violation
of patents is prevalent in the technology industry since companies fight with each other for
violation of patents. Organisations such as Samsung pay a certain amount on the sales of its
products to other companies such as Microsoft for using their features in their devices.
1.2 Importance of the Issue
This issue is important because, without the implementation of effective competition law and
patent regulations policies, it will become difficult for the government to make sure that the
actions of these companies can be monitored and the rights of customers are protected. This
report will evaluate the history of the organisations involved and discuss the case to highlight
its key points. This report will make an argument and analyse ethical decision making
theories to reach an ethical conclusion.