Apple Sues Samsung Because Galaxy Tab Looks Too Much Like An iPad

from the oh-come-on dept

Mon, Apr 18th 2011 6:57pm — Mike Masnick

We've noticed that Apple's been getting a lot more aggressive when it comes to proactive patent infringement lawsuits lately, so it's not all that surprising to see that it's now suing Samsung for patent and trade dress infringement over the design and packaging of the Samsung Galaxy phone and tablet. I haven't seen the full filing yet (for reasons unexplained AllThingsD mentions the filing, and has a screen shot, but didn't post the full filing), so perhaps there's more to this than what's described in the existing coverage. However, from the screenshot, it looks like Apple is asserting design patents, instead of utility patents. Design patents are pretty limited and a lot more like a trademark than a traditional patent. I'd be interested to see if there were utility patents included as well, and will post an update once I've seen the filing.

That said, this complaint seems pretty silly. Yes, lots of smartphones mimic the basic look and feel of the iPhone these days. But, Apple itself copied many of the design features of the iPhone from others as well... and, let's face it, Apple owes much of its history to copying the look and feel of a graphical user interface that Steve Jobs saw while touring Xerox PARC. Why can't Apple just focus on competing in the market place, rather than worrying about what competitors are doing? And, to be honest, this lawsuit actually makes me more interested in checking out those Samsung devices, because it signals to me that it may actually be getting "close" to the design quality associated with Apple's devices...

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Filed Under: mobile phones, patents, tablets, trademarks
Companies: apple, samsung

42 Comments

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MrWilson, 18 Apr 2011 @ 7:14pm

Looking at the images, it seems like Apple is asserting that they own the rights to thin devices with rounded corners. Just because you're the first doesn't mean your design wasn't derivative.

"This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple�s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas."

Rounded corners are "ideas?" That's a basic design aesthetic. Please pay royalties to the first caveman who rounded off the corners of his stone tablet and then we can talk about protecting your "ideas."

Or if you want a more recent example, clipboards have had rounded corners for a while and tablet computers are pretty much computers in the shape of a clipboard.
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el_segfaulto (profile), 18 Apr 2011 @ 7:21pm

I have to agree with Apple on this one. How many decades of research and development did we have to go through to go from square corners to rounded? It was a quantum leap and Apple needs to be rewarded for that kind farsighted thinking. And how many of you armchair quarterbacks would have thought to line up your icons in a grid pattern? Personally, I had been doing it in ley lines on a Cartesian plane using the birthdate of the girl I'm dating at the time as a seed for a complex algorithm involving the closing Dow Jones average, the phase of the moon, and the number of times I have to unlock a user's account because of sheer stupidity throughout the day. I don't mind telling you that it was difficult, so huzzah Apple, huzzah.
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Mel, 18 Apr 2011 @ 7:22pm

"Apple owes much of its history to copying the look and feel of a graphical user interface that Steve Jobs saw while touring Xerox PARC"

For which Apple paid for in pre-IPO stock and a commitment to take the Parc technology to the market
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 18 Apr 2011 @ 7:25pm

Re:
Yeah, not justifying Apple in this case, but everyone leaves that last bit off.
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Pete, 18 Apr 2011 @ 7:32pm

Lol
What happened to competition? Samsung's Tablet must be better, making Apple shiver in their boots, cant get away with ridiculously high prices now can you Apple?

Plus yeah my screen has rounded corners, so does my drawing tablet and well everything >_
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bigpicture, 18 Apr 2011 @ 8:08pm

Re:
You forgot to mention the old B&W TV picture tubes, these had rounded corners because they did not have the technology to make them square back then.
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Transbot9, 18 Apr 2011 @ 8:12pm

Hrm..
Apple makes decent products, and I have to give them props for being able to invent entire new markets, but...

I am not a fan of the general attitude the company gives off. This lawsuit only reinforces it. Paramount has a strong case against Apple ripping off their Star Trek props.
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Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 18 Apr 2011 @ 8:12pm

Re: Re:
Not too mention all those years of driving I've done. I've rounded more corners than I care to mention.
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fogbugzd (profile), 18 Apr 2011 @ 8:51pm

The also claim rights to the color white and all words starting with a lower case i.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2011 @ 8:54pm

Re: Lol
A quick look around my office and I see very few corners that aren't rounded by design to some degree.

'Cause those sharp corners...they will cut a bitch.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2011 @ 8:55pm

Re:
That's incredibly inaccurate yet somehow intuitive, isn't it?
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Atkray (profile), 18 Apr 2011 @ 9:24pm

Possible explanation
"Why can't Apple just focus on competing in the market place, rather than worrying about what competitors are doing?"

I watch exactly 1 hour of TV a week and listen to about 40 minutes of radio a day while driving.

In the last few weeks I have been subjected to advertisements for the iPad 2 enough to annoy me. The thing is I don't remember ever seeing an ad for the first iPad.

I have a feeling that Apple's focus on competing is an ugly image of failure in what is an increasingly competitive market.

Consequently the lashing out.
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fogbugzd (profile), 18 Apr 2011 @ 9:31pm

Re: Re:
Hyperbole means you never have to say you're sorry.
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Allen (profile), 18 Apr 2011 @ 9:56pm

Apple could continue to focus on inovation to keep their competitive edge but sustained inovation is hard and litigation is easy.
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el_segfaulto (profile), 18 Apr 2011 @ 9:58pm

Re: Possible explanation
My TV watching has gone up lately (March Madness and the NBA playoffs) normally I just watch Mythbusters and Big Bang Theory. There have been a plethora of iPad commercials to the point where I'm sick of seeing it and hearing it called "magic". I know Apple sells this mystique, but the fact that they're even bothering to show commercials tells me that they're nervous.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2011 @ 10:15pm

If all your competition can ever do is copy what you already have on the market then you never have to worry about them getting ahead of you so long as you keep pushing forward with innovation they will always be one step behind.
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el_segfaulto (profile), 18 Apr 2011 @ 10:34pm

Re:
Using rounded corners and paginating icons isn't exactly new in the computer world. In some ways Android is a few steps ahead of iOS.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2011 @ 10:36pm

Apple itself copied many of the design features of the iPhone from others as well... and, let's face it, Apple owes much of its history to copying the look and feel of a graphical user interface that Steve Jobs saw while touring Xerox PARC. Why can't Apple just focus on competing in the market place, rather than worrying about what competitors are doing?

He's suing because he's got nothing to lose, (unless he gets a new one) and with others making copies, they (apple) will lose in the market.

If you recall Windows lost to Lindows a few years back and paid them off to basically go away.
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z, 18 Apr 2011 @ 11:36pm

A lot of people mistakenly believe that interfaces are mere decoration... right up until they have to come up with one. I'd be willing to bet that if Samsung or Google had any original interface designs good enough to duplicate, they'd sue the hell out of their copycats.
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Cowman Mau, 18 Apr 2011 @ 11:42pm

Laughable
Oh Apple sues Samsung, thats hilarious.
Those naughty thieves ...... oh but wait.
What about when Apple needed Samsung for the components to make their all so original designs?

Hmm, I too would like to see them bring a Technology Patent suit to court claiming infringement, via utility or otherwise.
Given that they've been pretty much in bed with one another for some time.

The only thing this signals, is a distancing in the relationship. Because Samsung is now a REAL COMPETITOR, were no longer friends.

Oh booo hoo.
Grow up! I thought you were classed fruit, not a vegetable.
Innovate or die!
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Adrian Lopez, 19 Apr 2011 @ 12:04am

Trade dress is such a messed up concept. Nobody who buys a Galaxy thinks they're getting an iPhone. In a sane world that would be enough to get Samsung off the hook for trademark infringement. It's really very simple: If it doesn't say Apple then it's not an Apple product.

In Apple's hands, "trade dress" is just an anti-competitive tool meant to prevent competitors from having interfaces with similar functionality to their own.
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Adrian Lopez, 19 Apr 2011 @ 12:08am

Re:
"A lot of people mistakenly believe that interfaces are mere decoration... right up until they have to come up with one."

I agree. Interfaces like the iPhone's are more than mere decoration, being in fact primarily functional in nature. Trade dress isn't supposed to cover functional elements, so Apple really shouldn't win its case against Samsung.
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joe, 19 Apr 2011 @ 12:32am

Re:
iDoubt it.
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C., 19 Apr 2011 @ 12:42am

16 claims against Samsung, including unjust enrichment, trademark infringement and 10 patent claims.
It's the "unjust enrichment" claim I find interesting given the potentially broad application and vague interpretation of this legal remedy. Just how strong could a claim like this be?
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NotMyRealName (profile), 19 Apr 2011 @ 1:56am

As a side note, in an attempt to cash in, I'm developing a pair of white pants with enormous cargo pockets, so people have a reasonable place to put their ipads and accessories. I'm gonna call them iPants. Feel free to steal my idea, just be aware that in 10 years I'll sue you so I can be rewarded for my lack of execution.
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Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 19 Apr 2011 @ 5:10am

Gosh I love these
I'd be interested to see if there's anything more to this, but from what's there:

Samsung�s Galaxy Tab computer tablet also slavishly copies a combination of several elements of the Apple Product Configuration Trade Dress,� Apple says in its suit, noting that Samsung�s tablet, like Apple�s, uses a similar rectangular design with rounded corners, similar black border and array of icons.

So... not at all like the predates-the-iPhone HTC in my pocket which has a rectangular design touch screen with rounded corners a black border and a grid-array of square-ish application icons on the OS.... oh, wait a minute....

And, to be honest, this lawsuit actually makes me more interested in checking out those Samsung devices, because it signals to me that it may actually be getting "close" to the design quality associated with Apple's devices...

Yep that was the first thing that occurred to me too. "Pay no attention to that infringing man behind the curtain....."
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Matthew, 19 Apr 2011 @ 5:55am

Re:
"...and all words starting with a lower case i."

If only that were a joke!

I think the sentence "...it signals to me that it may actually be getting "close" to the design quality associated with Apple's devices."

Should read "...have surpassed the design quality associated with Apple's devices."
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Donald Moore, 19 Apr 2011 @ 6:15am

maybe it's just a tactic
to get samsung to lock up more components for apple's use only?
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2011 @ 6:29am

Re: maybe it's just a tactic
This is my thought as well. iPad 3 is due out sometime next year if the rumors are to be believed, so this could just be a bargaining tactic.

"Give us your widgets at a 10% discount and these lawsuits will go away..."
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Steve, 19 Apr 2011 @ 7:12am

Re:
That was after they lost the lawsuit. Jobs didn't offer Xerox stock and ask if he could take the technology" to market.

Now I'm not too good with dates, but I'm pretty sure the Xerox suit came after Apple sued Microsoft for copying the look and feel that they had previously copied from Xerox.
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Dodo, 19 Apr 2011 @ 7:25am

Except Apple wasn't the first to market a thin device with rounded corners
Take a look to the Crunchpad/JooJoo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JooJoo Who's copying who?
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jhn, 19 Apr 2011 @ 7:51am

How much of this is defensive, or at least preemptive? Lawsuits have been flying left and right involving Apple as plaintiff and defendant. Most of them, probably, are trivial. Any one of them is probably part of some larger fight.
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Sean T Henry (profile), 19 Apr 2011 @ 8:30am

Re:
"Looking at the images, it seems like Apple is asserting that they own the rights to thin devices with rounded corners."

That sounds exactly like what Nintendo did with the second version of the Gameboy.
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 19 Apr 2011 @ 8:40am

Re:
Rounded corners are "ideas?" That's a basic design aesthetic.

Yes! They should have had chamfered edges instead of fillet edges.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2011 @ 9:01am

Re: Re: Re:
Yes, indubitably and indeed!
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harbingerofdoom (profile), 19 Apr 2011 @ 9:14am

Re:
"rounded off the corners of his stone tablet..."

thats called a wheel which means cavemen should sue apple for violating their intellectual property involving items without acute angles.

now just need to find some cavemen...
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 19 Apr 2011 @ 9:47am

Re: Re:
The stock was exchanged for the right of Apple to tour (and use) tech in Xerox PARC labs. That was pretty cut and dry.

The suits happened later, while Apple was suing Microsoft for copying its GUI. Xerox sued Apple a defensive move to prevent a (potentially) victorious Apple making similar claims on Xerox.

Xerox's suit was dismissed, and Apple (largely) lost.
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Cowardly Anon, 19 Apr 2011 @ 11:01am

Re:
I feel that a picture is worth a thousand words in this case: http://i.imgur.com/aLGOQ.jpg

I'm not sure what IP Apple is whining about when obviously they didn't even come up with the rounded corners idea on their own.
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David Liu (profile), 19 Apr 2011 @ 12:45pm

To be fair:
http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/files/2011/04/apple-v.-samsung-2-380x392.png

I'd say that the GUI looks almost exactly the same.

And for a big company like Apple, their developers have little interest in this lawsuit; more like their legal department saw some similarities and found yet another way to justify their existance.
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Gil, 19 Apr 2011 @ 4:19pm

I think it is mainly an emotional issue
Apple has gotten used to being the clear leader in a race. Now having competitors reach that neck-to-neck point, they are angry and troubled. History has made Apple learn that this point is the beginning of the end, as far as their dominance is concerned, due to their elitist business model.
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Johnny5k, 5 May 2011 @ 8:07pm

Here's some informative eye candy:
I made a big chart/graphic, comparing the iPhone with the Galaxy S and the F700, to show just how much Samsung's design has changed in a way that approaches that of the iPhone. Also compared are the iPad/Tab, and all of their packaging, as in the lawsuit.
Check it out:

http://peanutbuttereggdirt.com/e/?p=218
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Eric, 15 Aug 2011 @ 7:13pm

We have every right to copy you and make a buck.
Seriously, there is a difference between competitors and blood sucking leeches. It�s not competition to clone somebody else�s product and sell it as your own. Either Samsung violated patents or it didn�t and if it did it should pay, regardless of who�s suing. You can talk all you want about ancient history and XEROX PARC, but the Mac looked nothing like what XEROX had.
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