I too agree with what is said to be Pablo Picassos’ quote “Good artists borrow, Great artists steal.” Which is why Apple nor Samsung, or any other company should be concerned with copying or patents of their products.
Withholding information or knowledge can only stifle or slow the rate of innovation/improvements/advancement.
Companies should not keep their intellectual property in secret. If they are truly interested in advancing civilization, they should share information openly.
This directly relates to patents. There should not be any such thing as a patent.
If a company truly believes that their service/product/offering is valuable, companies should provide direct comparisons to other similar services/products/offerings from their competitors.
As in nature, it should be survival of the fittest. The big difference is that we have knowledge that we should share openly to solve problems to better the world, environment, and humanity.
Update 092012: Mark Twain on Plagiarism and Originality: “All Ideas Are Second-Hand”
Update 091012: Why knockoffs are good for the fashion industry.
