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Comment by rocky1138 | Hacker News Reader

Companies who are leaders in their industry do not usually need to do this.

I've heard of it happening at smaller organizations or sole proprietorships (small business), but it is strange to see from a company as large as Samsung.

What's important is how high up the chain this was sanctioned by. If it's a lowly manager somewhere, he/she will just get fired and this will all blow over. If it's right at the top, it's much more embarrassing.

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Samsung's IP theft issues would lead me to believe that their credo is "whatever it takes to win" and this kind of behavior isn't out of line with their track record.

>Samsung's IP theft issues

You mean the time when Apple tried to patent "0-length-swipe" and a shape of a box?

No I don't. You know why ? Because it never happened.

I think he meant to say "rounded rectangle" not box.

Yes, because Apple did something bad its ok for Samsung to. What? It's a good thing most people and companies don't work like that.

Why am I not surprised. Samsung has a history of imo unethical and questionable business practices.

Samsung Inflates Galaxy Tab Sales, Gets Busted

http://modmyi.com/content/360-samsung-inflates-galaxy-tab-sa...

Quite smooth: Samsung actually sold 1/10 of the 2 million Galaxy Tabs it claimed in 2010

http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/151854/quite-smooth-samsung...

Looks Like Samsung Pretty Much Lied About US Sales To The Public

http://www.macgasm.net/2012/08/10/looks-like-samsung-pretty-...

Samsung Hires 'Actors' To Pretend To Be Happy Galaxy Tab Testers?

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110325/12360313633/samsun...

Samsung caught presenting actors as Galaxy Tab "consumers," fudging thinnest tablet claims

http://appleinsider.com/articles/11/03/25/samsung_caught_pre...

Here’s how Samsung flew bloggers halfway around the world, then threatened to leave them there.

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/09/02/heres-samsung-flew-...

Samsung Caught Fudging Testimonials, and Lying about Galaxy Tab’s Thickness

http://techie-buzz.com/gadgets-news/samsung-galaxy-tab-fake-...

That is an amazing list. They seem to be on top there together with Ryanair and european banks.

Samsung's antics are hardly contained to smartphones & tablets either.

It reminded me of a project we did by analysing the reviews using basic NLP techniques. http://goo.gl/TqhfL

Oh I had meant that their IP theft isn't limited to mobile devices, but you have a very good point with their reviews in general.

(with their oncoming push into notebook computers, I expect similar fraudulent reviews in that area as well)

"Ethics" in Asia are not the same as the rest of the industrialized world. While I can't speak for Korean ethics, I've had dealings in other Asian countries where business ethics are really more like guidelines, elastic ones at that.

I wouldn't be surprised if the execs who sanctioned this behavior on Samsung's part don't even understand that it was wrong.

I don't accept this - everyone surely knows its wrong, however its a matter of how wrong. Is it seen to be wrong like driving 5kmh over the speed limit is?

Its only a matter of getting used to. If you have been doing this, and you think your competitors are also doing it, after some time, you will (conveniently) forget that it was wrong to begin with.

Right ... and US companies are always ethical, and have always been that way? Or US companies have simply been burt so many times that they know not to play loose with the truth.

It's probably worth noting that Korea "chaebol" (conglomerates) can be a little odd. They have a lot of power over the local government and media, so they end up thinking they are invincible. They are sometimes said to be very shady, at times.

Exactly. While the US of course (as mentioned below) have corporations that exert influence over government, overstep the law, etc., it is generally NOT tolerated by the general public.

That's where it's different in Asia, where such behavior is business as usual.

Big Tobacco in the USA is of course a shining example of the West's greater moral values /sarcasm

Microsoft Monsanto Exxon and so on...

Of course it happens in the US. I think that's covered enough here and elsewhere. But i believe the basic ideal of ethics is a cultural one. Consider that certain cultures in Asia, China for example, have been doing things a certain way thousands of years, and some of those ways are repulsive to the average American.

Forgot to add this:

"Tax evasion, bribery and price-fixing: How Samsung became the giant that ate Korea"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/tax-evasion-bri...

"Samsung's rocky legal past paints a picture of scandal and corruption"

http://www.theverge.com/policy/2012/8/7/3226651/samsung-lega...

"Samsung Bribery Probe Points to Pattern of Graft in South Korea"

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a...

4/7 of those websites are explicitly pro-Apple, which makes it seem unlikely that they are telling the whole story, given how, unfortunately, these things tend to descend into us-vs-them/clan warfare.

(I'm not saying it isn't true, just they aren't necessarily reporting everything.)

> Samsung's IP theft issues

While this is definitely super-scummy and nasty behaviour from Samsung, it's hard to take any comment seriously when it uses such a flawed new-speak phrase like "IP theft".

Even more so when it tries to gain substance by referring to Samsung as the bad guy when "violating" (or "stealing" lol) Apple's rounded rectangle patents.

Apple has their bullshit software patents constantly invalidated everywhere in the world except the US. Good thing Samsung footed the legal bill to make that happen.

Maybe they'll even send the top guy to jail (but later release him to run the olympics...)

Dude, I don't see why you need to defend Apple so seriously and in all probability, they are no different and just because they haven't got caught yet, doesn't mean you can't rule out the possibility that they aren't into this.

As an example, during the Apple vs Samsung patent wars (after Samsung lost), a handful of publications were writing in support of Apple even when most of them knew that Apple was abusing the patent system to its core. Most of them looked very much like they were paid by Apple to write it. Some even went as far as saying the win for Apple is good for innovation (which obviously it is not)[1]. Another example is once an author from Techcrunch even admitted to getting compensated monetarily by Apple to write a post bashing a competitor.

Apple, Samsung, LG, Sony, Panasonic, etc. are no different from each other. So let's not get religious, shall we?

[1] http://gizmodo.com/5938193/apple-winning-the-patent-wars-is-...

Brave new levels of false equivalence achieved here.

One guy was caught but let's not criticize him because everyone not caught could have done the same thing!

Gizmodo bought a stolen iPhone 4 prototype, blackmailed Apple over it, and published photos of the phone. Since then, they haven't been invited to Apple's press events.

Given the history, it's silly to suggest Gizmodo is being paid by Apple to write positive stories about them. I doubt Apple would even pick up the phone if Gizmodo called them.

I'm not defending Apple. I'm not a huge fan of their stuff. But, they are their market's leader and the parent post mentioned the outrage that one might see if Apple did the same as Samsung in this case.

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