- Image via CrunchBase
I’ll have a post forthcoming sometime soon about a very interesting book on the value of companies being able to imitate and build on the work of others, but there are times when you can see it in action. Jack Everitt points us to a short, but fascinating blog post by a guy working with contract manufacturers in China. While there, he went around looking at some of the gray-to-black market products built in China with no regards for intellectual property laws and found some unique, but interesting combinations:
Walk around the electronics markets in Shenzhen and you’ll see these devices. I saw a great iRobot-branded iPad knock-off with the Android character on it, which was a pretty excellent combination of three brands.
But here’s one I really liked: the G1-on-the-outside + iPhone-on-the-inside smartphone.
Of course, the traditionalists will be horrified at this sort of blatant “copying,” but these kinds of “mashups,” while certainly not legal, are actually an interesting way to experiment and potentially innovate, by not being hindered and held back by artificial rules that block such interesting combinations. As the blogger notes:
Related articles by Zemanta
- The Nexus One Was Google’s Dream. The Carriers Were Freddy Krueger. (techcrunch.com)
- Patents Roundup: Patent Lawyers Sued for Software Patent Violations, Other New Absurdities (techrights.org)
- IP protection and Open Innovation can work together (if you do it right). ” Innovation Leadership Network (timkastelle.org)
