Follow or find another way?: “De-opponent” trend of patent acquisition between apple and Samsung smartphones

The current competition among technology firms is centered on initiating patent litigations which conduct the planned acquisition of patents to enhance patent portfolios and planning. These methods are commonly employed between dynamic competitive rivals. The topic of this study is the evaluation of patent acquisition. To examine firm intentions regarding patent acquisition for technological network planning, a technology network constructed by patent citations and the concepts of technology enhancement and expansion was used to perform structural analysis. Apple and Samsung smartphones were adopted as the subjects of analysis. In particular, the patent litigations and information prior to and following the patent acquisition and transfer of the Apple and Samsung smartphones were investigated. A modified PCA was employed for technology classicification and to identify technological trends for patents. The results indicated that the external acquisition of patents for the original co-opetition upstream and downstream firms becoming rival intended to ”de-opponent” technically.