Judge denies Samsung's request to see iPad 3, iPhone 5
As expected, Samsung's request to examine the iPhone 5 and the iPad 3 was denied by Judge Lucy Koh in a ruling handed down yesterday. The judge expressed the need for fairness, but said Samsung overstepped the line when it asked for devices that are unannounced and likely in the prototype stage. Apple also asked to view Samsung devices, but the bulk of those products were already on the market or formally announced by the Korean manufacturer.
One piece of bad news was handed down to Apple. A portion of the judge's order hints that Apple may not get an injunction against Samsung unless it provides the iPhone 5 or the iPad 3 to the court for evaluation. Without the threat of an injunction, Samsung can continue to sell its mobile devices in the US and is not under any pressure to reach a settlement in this case.
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As expected, Samsung's request to examine the iPhone 5 and the iPad 3 was denied by Judge Lucy Koh in a ruling handed down yesterday....
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The problem here is that Samsung is asking to see products that don't exist yet.
June 22 2011 at 7:06 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIt's not like Apple copied anything... (Xerox Star OS ... Cough).
June 22 2011 at 1:35 PM Report abuse Permalink -2 rate up rate down ReplyGod, I get sick of this. Apple was legally granted the right to receive all of the details about the Star GUI in a deal with Xerox; how it looked and how it worked. They did not take anything that wasn't given to them, and what they got was extremely rough— the Star's OS had the basic GUI concepts, yes, but it wasn't anything you'd want to use. Apple, like usual, took a technology whose time had come, and legitimized it, making it accessible to the masses.
You can't even compare that to what Samsung is doing here.
How, then, is Samsung supposed to make sure that the Galaxy S III doesn't end up looking like the iPhone 5? If Apple changes the design of the iPhone 5 and Samsung changes the design of their next phones by court order, they could still end up looking the same by accident.
You know how they say if you gave 1000 monkeys 1000 typewriters they'd eventually type a Shakespeare play? If you give 1000 engineers AutoCAD they'll eventually make something someone else already did too. There are only so many ways to design a black rectangle.
Is the lawsuit that Apple claims the Galaxy S looks like the iPhone 5 or just the iPhone - all versions? If it's just that it looks like the iPhone then seeing the 5 isn't relevant.
June 22 2011 at 12:59 PM Report abuse Permalink +3 rate up rate down Reply
waitWHAT
It's not just that Samsung's phone's physical form factor STRONGLY resembles the iPhone… the entire UI, from the icons down to the little on-screen buttons representing which "page" you are on, are all ripped off from the iPhone. There's no real effort to differentiate it.
June 22 2011 at 1:24 PM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down ReplySamsung is pretty lame, but Apple really needs to drop this ****. They're making money hand over fist, and the only real thing they're getting from griping about UI patents is bad PR.
June 22 2011 at 11:40 AM Report abuse Permalink -6 rate up rate down ReplyWhen you have patents, copyrights, or any other intellectual property, you are obligated to defend them if there is even a chance of an infraction. Failure to do so with full force could constitute precedent, helping the next offender to mount a defense against Apple's thereby-weakened copyrights.
This is not an optional thing; Apple are not being jerks. This is how the law works.
Good for Samsung , don't let apple try to walk all over.
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