Throughout their existence, tech giants have been suing, exchanging barbs, and trying to outdo each other in terms of innovation in developments. Our colleagues from Online Patent analyzed the history of the race, in which there is still no obvious winner in 2024, and explained why it is so important to think about protecting ideas from competitors in advance.
Race of two giants
Microsoft and Apple were founded at almost the same time: Bill Gates’ company appeared in 1975, and the famous “Apple” in 1976.
In 1984, the companies united to create one of the breakthrough personal computers of the time, the Macintosh. Microsoft supplied software for Apple PCs – a special dialect of MS BASIC and the Multiplan spreadsheet editor (the prototype of modern Excel).
It would seem that mutually beneficial cooperation, which became the basis for the construction of new technology, should have laid the foundation for the idea of cooperation between entrepreneurs. However, interaction was replaced by competition and open conflicts.
The first (and most significant) occurred at a conference:
Steve Jobs publicly accused Bill Gates of hijacking the origins of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Gates responded, “Well, Steve, I think there are many ways to look at it. I think it’s more like we both had a rich neighbor named Xerox. And when I broke into his house to steal his TV, I realized you’d already stolen it.”
In 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded his own company, NeXT. At that time, Microsoft had already begun to conquer the market, releasing the first version of Windows.
Jobs, at the helm of NeXT, continued to speak out against Microsoft openly:
They have absolutely no taste. They are not puzzled by original ideas and do not bring anything cool to their products.” The former head of Apple called Microsoft’s Mac applications “terrible” and the company’s products themselves “third-rate.”
Apple, without Jobs on board, put pressure on its competitor in court, where it accused Microsoft of violating patents and copyrights in the creation of operating systems.
One of the lawsuits stated that Microsoft stole 189 IT solutions. However, the court found such claims unsubstantiated: 179 were rejected as “voluntarily licensed by Apple for use by Microsoft,” and another 10 did not fall under the requirements for intellectual property protection.
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In February 1995, there was another attempt at litigation between the corporations. Apple accused Microsoft of intentionally stealing several thousand lines of QuickTime code, an audio and video player. Microsoft’s response was harsh: the corporation’s representatives threatened to stop supporting Office applications for Apple users. Apple had no choice but to withdraw the lawsuit.
Eternal competitors
As practice has shown, anything is possible in business. In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple. The first step of the visionary was to strengthen strategic interaction with market leaders. Jobs made a deal with Microsoft and stopped the lawsuit. The companies established a perpetual cross-license for all patents (both current and issued over the next five years), and Internet Explorer became the default browser for Mac.
Moreover, Gates promised to invest $150 million in Apple. Microsoft additionally and without much publicity invested in Apple additionally – from $500 million to $2 billion. Gates helped Jobs to straighten out the situation in the company. Apple shares began to grow, and investors again believed in Jobs’ corporation.
Microsoft suffered a defeat at the same time: the company’s capitalization fell after the “dot-com crash” in 2000, and only returned to its lost positions in October 2017.
During this time, Apple, developing and providing breakthrough technologies (iPod, iPhone), went far ahead. Jobs began to criticize his vis-à-vis again both in advertising and publicly. First, he said that Microsoft copied the developments of Google and Apple, even with an annual research budget of $5 billion.
Surprisingly, Gates took the jibes in stride, acknowledging that Apple was doing phenomenal things under Jobs’s leadership. After the visionary’s death in 2011, Gates said the rivalry between the companies had helped them grow: “Nothing he said offended me.”
Between 2012 and 2015, Apple and Microsoft began to collaborate more actively
In September 2015, Apple brought a Microsoft executive on stage to demonstrate Office 365 for iPad Pro while unveiling new products in San Francisco. A week later, Microsoft employees showed off their iPhone apps at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference.
Apple’s new CEO, Tim Cook, has acknowledged that buy c level contact list Apple and Microsoft were enemies for a time. The competition, according to Cook, continues today. The new head of the IT giant emphasized: “It is possible for Apple and Microsoft to have productive cooperation, not a tough confrontation.”
Apple and Microsoft now
Apple has long been the market capitalization leader, but Microsoft has pulled ahead thanks to its advances in artificial intelligence. The company is a key investor in OpenAI, a leading developer of end-user neurogenerative technologies. Apple is lagging far behind in this race.
As for the patent portfolio, Microsoft phone number qa also leads in the number of security documents – 32,173 patents against 20,291 for Apple. At the same time, the activity of independent registration of new developments by companies is approximately at the same level.
How to protect your developments? Useful advice
If you are not yet ready to spend money on patenting your own IT solution, or you are in the process of developing it, then start with the simplest thing – protecting the name of your application, technology, company and even a character in the game. Register your brand as a trademark and get undeniable advantages of the copyright holder.
