10 Tech Products Caught in the Middle of Patent-Infringement Cases

The technology industry is being ravaged by countless patent-infringement cases between companies that argue their intellectual property is being stolen. Whenever a lawsuit is launched from one firm to another, before long, the company being sued turns their own case against the plaintiff. What's worse, whenever a lawsuit is filed, the plaintiff typically tosses whatever new products the defendant releases into the mix. It's a nasty cycle that has profound implications on both consumers and the companies involved in the lawsuits. There are two schools of thought on patent-infringement lawsuits. Companies like Apple say that they're simply protecting their own inventions, and want their competitors to stop "copying" their products. Firms like Google, however, say that patent lawsuits undermine innovation in the marketplace and could eventually stymie the growth of the mobile industry. Still, both companies are launching lawsuits. And if the rumors are correct, they won't stop any time soon. In the following slides, eWEEK analyzes which tech products have found their way into patent-infringement lawsuits and whether their sales have been negatively affected because of it.

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