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

from the oh-come-on dept

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...

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

Smartphone Apps Quietly Using Phone Microphones And Cameras To Gather Data

from the hush-now dept

With the rise of smartphone apps, users don't always know what features and functionality those apps may be using. Reports are coming out about various apps that use the phone's microphone (and, sometimes, camera) in somewhat surreptitious ways to gather data. Now, of course, there are certain apps that people expect to use the microphone or a camera -- such as music or TV show identification products. But it's a bit of a surprise that apps such as the massively hyped (and then quickly panned) Color (which is a sort of photo sharing/location-based info service) is making use of your microphone and camera without most users realizing it:

Color uses your iPhone's or Android phone's microphone to detect when people are in the same room. The data on ambient noise is combined with color and lighting information from the camera to figure out who's inside, who's outside, who's in one room, and who's in another, so the app can auto-generate spontaneous temporary social networks of people who are sharing the same experience.

Another app discussed is, Shopkick, which gives people rewards for walking into certain stores. While you might think it could accomplish what it needs with GPS, apparently the stores in question have special devices that emit sounds that you can't hear, the microphone on your phone can pick up, thus "confirming" that you really entered the store.

While the reasoning behind these may be benign, my guess is that most people would feel pretty creeped out about apps turning on either the microphone or camera, without explicitly warning the user and making it clear what's going on (or letting them choose to turn on those features directly). Mike Elgan, who wrote the article linked above, notes (obviously) that surreptitiously turning on your microphone can provide marketers with all sorts of useful data (ya think?), so we should expect it to happen more and more often. Of course, all this is making me think that my Android phone needs an app that warns me whenever the microphone is turned on and lets me block it... Anyone writing that app?

Filed Under: camera, microphone, smartphones, snooping
Companies: color