Microsoft
The issue of questionable business ethics does not fall on Microsoft alone. This was shown in the case Apple Inc. vs. Microsoft Corporation. Apple Inc. accused Microsoft of using its visual Graphic User Interphase which it termed as a copyrighted ‘look and feel’ belonging to Apple Inc. This time Microsoft won the case though with some conditions. An interesting twist to the case occurred when Xerox sued Apple Inc. claiming that Apple’s GUI had infringed on Xerox’s own GUI. This case was, however, dismissed.
From these stated litigations, it can be observed that Microsoft and sometimes the companies that sue it do not adhere to proper ethics in their business conduct especially when it comes to competition. Microsoft is infamous for this and its ethics in business has been questioned all over the world despite its success as a business enterprise. This has led it to paying a total of US $ 2.5 billion in fines due to its business tactics with several ongoing cases against it. This figure is only going to rise if these businesses do not change the way they conduct business.
