A United States court has told Samsung to pay $1 billion to Apple by Oct 25 for infringing on six of the latter's seven patents. It seems the patent war has replaced the price war in the 3C industry which is worth $10 trillion, says an article in Beijing News. Excerpts:

Patent wars have become a trend, because compared with the value added products in the traditional industry the profit in the 3C software industry is much higher.

Companies seem to be in a dilemma when it comes to strengthening their research and development (R&D) in technology to cope with an impending patent war, for more investment would mean more input costs and greater risks.

A company should decide on its course of action according to its size, development stage and talent reserve. Small-scale enterprises that need to increase their R&D input have to avoid taking extra financial risks. And large companies must invest more to overcome patent bottlenecks and systematically upgrade the level of their industry and create or improve opportunities to compete in the world market.

Fortunately, Chinese-funded companies, which used to play a passive role in the 3C patent war, are gradually taking part in the market after increasing their R&D inputs. As the war over patents intensifies, not only the companies need to increase their R&D inputs, but also the government should issue more incentive policies to enable them to compete in the world market.

(China Daily 08/30/2012 page9)