Know all about some of the bloodiest tech battles of all time!

With the advancement of technology, tech giants are sure to cross paths at some point even though they are poles apart. There are some battles which have created the history of tech wars. These companies took to each other like anything.





1. Samsung vs Apple- Termed as the great smartphone war, Apple and Samsung have clashed on a scale almost unprecedented in the history of technology, for three years. It all began when Samsung, an Apple supplier brought out a shockingly similar device like iPhone, Galaxy S. Apple designers after studying Galaxy S closely found to their utter fury the glaring piracy. The overall appearance of the phone, the screen, the icons, even the box looked the same as that of iPhone’s. Patented features such as “rubber-banding,” in which a screen image bounces slightly when a user tries to scroll past the bottom, were identical too.

Apple's multinational litigation over technology patents became known as part of the mobile device "smartphone patent wars", extensive litigation in fierce competition in the global market for consumer mobile communications. While Apple won a ruling in its favour in the U.S., Samsung won rulings in South Korea, Japan, and the UK. On June 4, 2013, Samsung won a limited ban from the U.S. International Trade Commission on sales of certain Apple products after the commission found Apple had violated a Samsung patent.

Spanning four continents this legal battle costs them more than a billion dollars.

2. Google vs Oracle- Android's non-interoperability with mainstream Java is the focal point for Oracle's litigation.

It all started in 2007 when Google released the beta version of its Android mobile platform, which included the use of application programming interfaces or APIs built with the standard edition Java Platform (J2SE).

In 2010, Oracle Corporation acquired Sun Microsystems for more than $7 billion and officially became the owner of the Java programming language and its licensing.

Despite the fact that Sun open-sourced J2SE in 2006, Oracle alleged infringement of 37 Java APIs and API documentation.

The five year old case is still pending in the court with the US High Court recently declining to hear the case and passed the case to a trial court.

APIs are specifications that allow applications to communicate with each other. For example, when someone types into a document, and then hits the print command, an API is being used that enables the word processor to talk to the printer driver, even though all the software was written by different people.

3. Microsoft vs Google- Google and Microsoft, though poles apart did cross paths. Google's main product is an Internet search engine and the company's revenue comes from ad sales. Microsoft's main products are an operating system, office productivity suite and other software.

Yet, the two have taken each other on in their native product.

In an attempt to give direct competition to Google, Microsoft launched a new search engine called Bing. Its features are similar in look, feel, and function to Google's search.

Google made an attempt to compete with Microsoft's Office software suite with its Web-based productivity software called Google Docs. Google Docs includes a word processor, spreadsheet application, slideshow presentation maker, and even a form builder and drawing tools, all with the portability of access from any Web browser.

4. Samsung vs Google- There’s a storm brewing, or so say the tech legal experts . Google and its Android replaced Microsoft and its Windows where Samsung is just at front end to deliver traffic to Google and its ads, services, and products via Samsung devices. Given the fact that 50% (we use symbols) of Android devices are made by Samsung, and that Samsung's cut of any related profits is the same as even tiny companies that also back Android, Samsung is making Google richer while potentially jeopardizing its own potential future earnings.

But Samsung clearly understands this. With its own mobile OS that uses Tizen at its core, Samsung is playing a carefully spun strategic game, it seems.

Samsung is working toward ditching Android completely sometime over the next three to five years to take complete control over its future.

Now Google is no fool either. Google won't let Samsung part without a battle. The air is too calm like that before a powerful storm which is likely to take the tech world in a blow.

(Image credits: Indiatimes, androidcommunity, cloudsherpas, courses2.cit.cornell, xda-developers)