News Apple sues Samsung for copying iPhone and iPad

Apple claims Samsung 'slavishly' ripped of the look and feel of its best selling products.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2011/04/19/apple-sues-samsung-for-copying/1

 

How many other ways can you design a phone nowadays?

 

I think Apple will be sueing the producers of actual apples next.

 

iOS was just a rip-off of PalmOS in the first place

 

Agree... I don't think that Apple has any reason whatsoever... :/

 

Exactly. Apple should just concentrate on doing some work! Get rid of what must be a massive team employed solely to sue others and decrease prices accordingly.

 

Funny, and Samsung used to make parts for Apple products, and wasn't a problem before.

 

Doesn't Samsung provide some electronics stuff that is inside the iPad and iPhone? If so, its not rocket science to understand that they would be generally similar in look and electronics itself.

 

Really? Like come on..Apple are suing someone again? Every touch phone looks the same pretty much. Why don't they sue all mp3-player manufacturers too while they are at it. Many of those look just like some of their range. Pathetic.

 

Just for some context, here is a (slightly outdated) diagram detailing who is suing whom in the mobile telecom space.



Put simply, this is Apple's legal team just doing their job. In fact, more often than not, the reason these lawsuits are filed isn't to 'win' in court (as that can easily take years, long after product in question ceases production) but to reach a settlement that usually involves a mutual licensing exchange.

Google recently posted a blog mentioning the ubiquity of such practises, stating that they're actively buying up patients in order to build up their own portfolio so that they're in a better position to 'deal' when lawsuits like this come around.

tl;dr - the world is in dire need of proper patent reform.

 

Oh just **** off already Apple.

 

Apple are doing nothing that LG, Nokia, RIM, Samsung, Sony, and in fact any other decently sized tech company don't do. Hell, take a look at Intel and nVIDIA...


But no, everybody just has a go at Apple.

 

Didn't realise you could copyright a cuboid,

 

Err Cei... Apple is having a go at everyone. Try reading just the head titles, I think it should be enough...

 

hmmmm
Didn't apple copied the design of a "intimate feminine absorbent" on its iPhone?

 

Google Healthcare? What will they think of next?

If, as you say, it's just to get cross-licensing deals, wouldn't it just be easier to negotiate those directly with other companies rather than going down the road of litigiousness? Sounds a bit over-complicated if you ask me.

 

Yes, read the headlines and don't actually read the full content to get the actual picture. Great advice. Apple aren't suing "everybody", they're suing Samsung for copying the iPhone 3G(S) in design terms - whether that's legit or not is another thing entirely. They've also got an on-going suit against HTC for UI patent infringements.

Apple are however, being sued by Kodak (who are also suing RIM for the same thing). Go further afield, as other posters have said, and you'll realise that all the tech companies are constantly suing each other for everything and anything. This is simply another shot in a war that will never end, and Apple are not the leaders of the pack by any means.

Ergo, stop whinging about Apple and whinge about the ridiculous state of the US patent system that encourages this kind of thing instead.

Apple still give Samsung a huge sum every year for components (apparently totalling 4% of Samsung's income) - particularly in NAND flash (SSDs for the MBA, NAND for the iOS devices) and the SoC A4/A5 processors in the iPhone/iPad, and displays. The whole thing is just the way big business renegotiates contracts these days...

 

Why haven't the Roddenberry estate sued Apple yet? The iPad is a blatant rip of of the Padds used in Star Trek, they hardly even bothered to change the name...........

 

While I do agree that they look fairly similar (they look like every other bloody touch phone out there) I should think the words "SAMSUNG" in big letters across the top of the samsung phone should make it pretty hard to confuse with an iphone

 

I dont understand why they need waste their money suing, if your product is better, it sells better.

Spend the money making better products?! OR dont spend the money and make your products cheaper.