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Sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 remain illegal in Germany, a Dusseldorf court decided this morning. Judge Johanna Brueckner-Hoffmann believes that Samsung’s "smooth, simple surfaces" on the 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet copied the minimalist design of Apple's iPad. The court said that Apple's design isn't the only way to …

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    1. thesykes
      Reply Icon
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      errr

      it's black, rectangular and has rounded corners. it's also a different aspect ratio, designed to be held in a different orientation and does not have a big button on the front of it.

      of course that same description can be equally applied to tablets from asus, htc, acer, hp, blackberry.....which I think covers Android, Web OS, Blackberry and Windows.

      Which could explain why Apple "accidentally" distorted the Galaxy images to make it appear the same size, showed it in portrait and not it's native landscape view and with the app drawer open and not with it's desktop showing.

      31 1
    2. Fuzz
      Reply Icon

      that's not the point

      The point is not that the Samsung tab looks like an ipad, yes it does, quite a lot. The point is that the design is obvious and Apple shouldn't have the right to stop other companies making similar designs.

      If I was going to design a tablet I'd come up with something very similar. If I'd designed it 7 or 8 years ago it probably would have looked the same but with a brushed chrome finish rather than the shiny black because that would have looked modern. The design of the device is obvious, it's a screen with a bezel.

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    3. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      @RichyS

      Perhaps I should not feed the trolls..... however......

      I don't really care too much for Samsung.... I detest Apple.

      None of that matters, apple are being blatantly anti-competitive and flexing their legal dept to maximise sales of their kit. Wait till another contender comes along, it will be the same story..... Some BS case to stop sales on some crap charges of copying or patents.

      I do not buy apple out of principle and am happy with that decision.

      Perhaps what apple is failing to realise is that these sorts of cases harm a companies image and tarnish the brand, ultimately leading to turned off consumers and less sales.

      If I was Samsung I would have a major marketing campaign throughout Europe - highlighting the more ridiculous aspects of this case, embarrassing apple and again doing a lot of damage to the apple brand.

      Apple altering the images of the tab to look as if it is the same physical size as the ipad set the tone of this whole case - comical and unjust.

      I may end up buying Samsung kit (of all descriptions) to satisfy my 'Fuck You Apple" cravings that Apple themselves have made all the stronger in me.

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      1. JoeSmooth
        Reply Icon
        Facepalm

        I couldn't have said it better (Anonymous Coward), consumers love the freedom of choice and Apple should let their products do the walking and let consumers speak with their hard earned cash.

        Just a thought, when the iPad was launched it had a 2-3 year lead ahead of its nearest competition and to stay ahead the iPad has to be improved. Considering the rate at which Apple evolves its products and the rapid rise of Android that lead is now more like 3-6 months (over an 18 month time frame).

        ...Could 2012 be the year of the Android tablet?

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    4. Roland6 Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Paris Hilton

      I like the subtext of Apple's legal challenge

      To take on such a legal challenge, Apple are obviously very worried that their fans will mistakenly buy the Galaxy Tab instead of an iPad.

      There seems to be only two sensible conclusions:

      1. Apple considers its customers to be so stupid that they are unable to distinguish between a black device with Samsung written on it and a genuine white Apple device carrying the Apple logo.

      2. Apple are planning to drop the Apple logo and produce black devices.

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    5. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Sony

      I realise all the Apple Haters also hate Sony, but I suggest you look at the latest Sony designs. There is absolutely no way you could mistake them for an iPad. Sony have done some innovative and interesting design work.

      A tablet does not have to look like an iPad.

      Copying an iPad, or any innovative product out to be (and is apparently) unlawful.

      Screw Samsung, they are better, they just dropped the ball in their haste to be in the market.

      Dweeb

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      1. John Bailey
        Reply Icon

        But..

        Do you realise that your sixth word make the rest of your post redundant?

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      2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Gimp

        Optional!

        "Copying an iPad, or any innovative product out to be (and is apparently) unlawful."

        Guess that should be "ought".

        But anyway: Wrong.

        It cannot be unlawful and should not be unlawful.

        It's immoral and mercantilistic - no state-enforced entrenched monopolies and rent-seeking please. No beggar thy neighbor games in the marketplace.

        It's subjective - because what may be "innovative" in the eyes of the starry-eyed fanboi might well be "obviously obvious" in the eyes of anything else.

        It's a lie - no "innovation" comes out of the brain of a super-genius fully formed and ready to take over the market. It's always based on existing stuff. If you absolutely want your protection, you should be forced to build your product ex nihilo. Ten years on an isolated island with no access to modern telecom devices should be sufficient, no?

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    6. Mage Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Flame

      Blind Droidtards?

      Of course it looks the same. What other way is there?

      The Pen & Pad I designed in 1988 looked the same too.

      The issue inst the similarity, the issue is does Apply have exclusivity to a simple rectangular shape with a rectangular screen.

      Yes it could look like a Cardassian terminal. But that would be as stupid as cars with Octagonal wheels.

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  2. Tomn8tr

    Duh

    So, Apple patented the look and feel of round buttons, and now they own the rights to the world's nipples?

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  3. TonyHoyle

    Why do apple have such a low opinion of their product?

    There are two ways they could go.

    1. Create a better product and sell it

    2. Use to courts to kill the competition

    They have chosen option 2. That means they think the ipad can't compete in a fair marketplace.. rather odd opinion for a company to have about one of its flagship products.

    I wonder if their lack of confidence is part of the reason steve jobs bailed?

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Whoops

      According to the market (ie. products actually sold) Apple have a better product! It's certainly the product everyone is willing to and wants to buy.

      I have no issue with Apple defending their design and other rights. Samasung copied Apple's product, blatantly. They deserve their fate.

      I rather like the new wedgy Sony slab, nothing like an iPad at all and technically quite top drawer.

      I may get one, coz it's cool

      Dweeb

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      1. Svantevid
        Reply Icon
        FAIL

        "Samasung copied Apple's product, blatantly. "

        ---

        O rly? I can mention a ton of digital picture frames that looked exactly like iPad. With the only problem that they came out years before iPad. So if you want to talk about people stealing design...

        .

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    2. Gordon 10
      Reply Icon

      Arguably

      Why settle for one when you can do both?

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  4. Lamont Cranston
    Thumb Down

    All the TVs in the John Lewis, next door,

    are black rectangles, with smooth, simple surfaces. All the netbooks and laptops are clamshells, with smooth, simple surfaces on one face and QWERTY keyboards on the other.

    Germany, save us from this madness!

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Well, better a Blind Droidtard than a Dumb F*cktard...

    So, Apple are worried about prospective iPad owners purchasing a Galaxy Tab *by mistake*, 'cos it "looks almost exactly the same"? I think that says a lot about the intelligence level of Apple's customers.

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  6. Robert E A Harvey
    Happy

    Schiphol

    As I came through Amsterdam Airport on Tuesday the KLM lounges had displays of tehtered samsung tabs and phones, and jolly nice they looked too.

    I bought a camera instead.

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  7. Jim Carter

    I bought one before this all kicked off.

    I'm of the opinion that Frau Brueckner-Hoffmann might well be in the pockets of Apple. Please bear in mind this is mere opinion, not fact.

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ...so Apple invented the smooth, rectangle now

    For all those defending Apple in this rediculous case stating that Samsung simply copied their design, perhaps you should do a picture search for Samsung picture frames.

    One in particular may interest you, http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/09/samsung-digital-picture-frame-stores-pics-movies-music/

    This came out in 2006, i.e. pre-ipad. Perhaps you want to re-think your support for your Apple design gods...

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  9. dark1here

    Samsung Galaxy I pad lookalike??

    My father used to collect old cigarette cases. Many were smooth metal. Many were from Germany between WW1 and WW2. Should I sue Apple because their smooth looking case looks like my old Mans prewar German cigarette case?

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    1. mhenriday
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      Boffin

      On the contrary, darkthere -

      in the event your father is, as we piously hope, alive and well and enjoying his collection or if, in the natural course of time and human mortality, it is now in your ownership, the owner of the collection might do well to consult a lawyer with regard to protection from a possible suit from Apple's legal eagles, given that their «Community Design Registration» seems now to be interpreted as giving that company a legal monopoly on rectangular objects with «smooth, simple surfaces» (I'd like to see that in German). Prior art - e g everything occuring between Euklides' attempt to systematise geometry some 2300 years ago and the date of Apple's registration of the design in the EU - would seem, according to Ms Brueckner-Hoffman's ruling, to have become completely irrelevant. Just so do judges render themselves - and the legal systems they represent - laughingstocks. One can only hope that this affair is published so widely that Apple suffers in the only court about which they really care - sales....

      Henri

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    1. Darryl
      Reply Icon

      Optional

      I agree... I fact I thought submitting doctored evidence to a court was grounds for contempt or at least summary dismissal of the case.

      Not so in Germany?

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  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All of the Android device makers should gang up on Apple; as well as anyone else that wants to develop mobile computers. As much money, correction as big a market cap as Apple has, it can't afford to fight legal battles with every device maker. If Microsoft, Google, Amazon, RIM, Samsung and Sony led the pack, Apple would think twice. At some point Apple has to stop and think about where it spends its money, on R&D or on lawyers.

    In the end though, a better approach would be for all non iOS device makers to get together nd develops quality services that only support non iOS platforms, thus pushing iOS further into the minority. Consumers buy devices because of the content and services. Sony owns a lot of content, Sony could lock Apple out of it's music nd movie library and give license only to Android platforms. And then there is Amazon with it's new Android powered Kindle. Amazon also has a lot of content and services; optimize Amazon for Android platforms and gradually lock iOS out.

    There is no law that says any content or service provider has to support a particular platform.

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  12. Chris Miller
    Facepalm

    Willkommen in Nordrhein-Westfalen

    the EU's answer to East Texas.

    4 1
  13. scarshapedstar
    WTF?

    Oh yeah?

    Well, it's awfully derivative of the iPad to have a flat glass screen. They could have made it bumpy, even jagged. Why don't they innovate more?

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  14. veletron

    Childish Apple

    This childish behaviour from Apple has ensured that I will never again buy one of their products. Apple is behaving like an irritable child throwing its toys out of the pram.

    Grow Up, Apple!

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    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Trollface

      Grow Up, Apple?

      But then it would be a Tree.

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  15. chipxtreme
    WTF?

    Did the judge actually see them both in court?

    The design maybe "similar" in that there's only so many ways you can portray a touch screen device. But did he actually have both units in court and looked at both the design of the tablets and use both the UI's on them?

    Because if he did then I can certainly say....."He should of gone to Specsavers"

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    1. cloudgazer
      Reply Icon

      There was nothing stopping Samsung supplying the court with examples for this appeal, so presumably he did. As for the 'only so many ways' argument, sorry but the genuinely different looking devices from Sony kinda disprove that.

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    2. mhenriday
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      Headmaster

      «But did he actually have both units in court ...»

      Given that the judge presiding over this case seems to be named «Johanna Brueckner [Brückner ?]-Hoffman», I believe the correct personal pronoun here would be «she»....

      Jess sayin....

      Henri

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      1. Equitas
        Reply Icon
        Paris Hilton

        Are you sure .......

        that "she" is necessarily totally appropriate. I've seen quite a few middle-aged women from that part of the world who seem to go around wearing moustaches which would equal those of their male counterparts.

        Paris, because she doesn't appear in public with a moustache.

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  16. Levente Szileszky
    FAIL

    Judge Johanna Brueckner-Hoffmann - another fool?

    ""smooth, simple surfaces" on the 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet copied the minimalist design of Apple's iPad. The court said that Apple's design isn't the only way to make a tablet computer, and that other designs could have been used by Samsung."

    Seriously?

    Just how the hell these kind of idiots get to decide about things they have obviously no effin' clue about? With every new lunatic decisions like this we get a little bit closer and closer to a complete judiciary meltdown - and then all these crazy ladies like this one will be booted off the bench or at least put back to deliver decisions about handbags stolen from old ladies, employee contract breaches etc.

    Very few judges today have enough understanding to even preside over a discussion about UI design or technology, forget making a call at the end.

    Such an idiotic, utterly clueless decision like this (only worse is the reasoning that follows it!) only shows one thing; these judges are woefully ill-equipped to handle a case like this so now wonder they end up being fools when they deliver downright stupid, ignorant verdicts like this woman did.

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  17. Badwolf

    Optional

    Very cunning Samsung

    They can't sell the things on the basis of price / spec etc - they go for the sympathy vote

    Ha Ha Ha

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    1. Arctic fox
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      Thumb Down

      RE "They can't sell the things on the basis of price / spec etc"

      How would you know? Several of the devices that Apple are firing their lawyers at have only just been released/announced. Apple's strategy is clearly to prevent Samsung, in advance, from marketing *anything* within tablets or smartphones if they in any way can. Thus enabling you to continue to rejoice in your own ignorance.

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    2. StooMonster
      Reply Icon
      Trollface

      Or use it to explain poor sales

      From these comments one can only conclude that the Samsung Galaxy is a far superior tablet to Apple's iPad, but riddle me this...

      Wasn't it this week that we were reading that Samsung had pushed 1,000,000 Galaxy tabs in channel, however only 20,000 have sold at retail.

      If El Reg commentators love these tablets so much, perhaps they should buy them? Or are they waiting for an HP like fire sale and hoping to pick one up for $100?

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      1. Arctic fox
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        Headmaster

        @StooMonster "Or use it to explain poor sales"

        Now I do not pretend to have the inside track on Samsung's sales figures but I would simply point out that that *allegation* regarding the sales of the Galaxy Tab came from the CEO (Lenovo I think?) of a major Chinese rival of South Korea's leading tech company. I would hesitate before I quoted such a source in this context.

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  18. etabeta
    FAIL

    ..And I BAN all Apple hardware

    At least in my family and my home. This bullying against Samsung, directly attacking my freedom of choice is going to get repaid in a way that would really hurt if everybody else would do the same: a total boycott of any product with the Apple brand.

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  19. VeryUnlikely
    Mushroom

    Are people really that blind?

    Everyone seems to be hung-up on the fact that there is only so much you can do with the design/shape/size/form of a tablet before they all start to look the same, and I'm not going to argue with that. But that's just a small part of Apple's "copy cat" dispute with Samsung. Take a look at this to get a better (although probably still incomplete) picture of what has got Apple riled.

    http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/2/2011/09/09/galaxy_tab_remains_illegal_in_germany/

    When you take all this into consideration, the icons, the layout of the icons, the colours used, the packaging (and yes, the shape), can you really, truly, honestly, say that Samsung are not guilty of copying Apple, that Samsung haven't taken more than a few liberties?

    The items described in the link above are what make an iPhone and iPhone, what make an iPad an iPad. That's what's pisssed Apple off, and it's no wonder the judge has ruled in favour of Apple so far.

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    1. dogged
      Reply Icon
      Stop

      "When you take all this into consideration, the icons, the layout of the icons, the colours used, the packaging (and yes, the shape), can you really, truly, honestly, say that Samsung are not guilty of copying Apple, that Samsung haven't taken more than a few liberties?"

      If it looked like that on bootup as an iPad does, yes. However, it does not. Apps are generally launched from homescreens (a selection thereof). What Apple have shown the Judge is the App Drawer, something you almost never look at once you've put what you want where you want it.

      TouchWiz - the actual "main interface" - looks NOTHING like iOS. It's nowhere near cluttered and ugly enough for that.

      Stop drinking Apple's Kool-Aid for five minutes, go to the shops, take a look a Galaxy Tab that's running and then tell bear it bears any relationship to the iPad at all beyond "rectangle".

      I'll wait.

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      1. VeryUnlikely
        Reply Icon
        Stop

        "What Apple have shown the Judge is the App Drawer, something you almost never look at once you've put what you want where you want it."

        The problem with this is that you have to buy the thing first before you can "put what you want where you want". People buying them in a store are more likely to see what is presented in the photos, ie App Drawer, than TouchWiz. Why even the need for App Drawer other than to make people think they're getting something they're not?

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        1. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
          Reply Icon
          Trollface

          Don't feed the Trolls

          please note; VeryUnlikely, as of 11 September 22:20, 4 posts, all in "Galaxy Tab remains illegal in Germany", joined Friday 9th September 2011 22:52 GMT

          Hmmmm, wonder how many other fanboi posters joined that day??????

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          1. VeryUnlikely
            Reply Icon

            Fanboi? Hardly. I don't own a tablet of any description and don't have a need to get one any time soon, but then doesn't that make me better qualified, ie less biased, to comment on whether item B looks like item A as I have no loyalty to either?

            The only reason I joined and commented was because I'm fed up of people trying to justify Samsung's "rip-off" by saying "there's only so much you can do with tablet design" as if that was all there was to Apple's claims of copying. I agree wholeheartedly that the shape is generic and is likely to be the norm for all tablets going forward (aspect-ratio aside), and I doubt any of this would've come about if:

            1. Samsung had not copied the layout, icons and the colours of the icons that appear on App Drawer.

            2. They'd come up with their own packaging design.

            But as can be seen by everyone except the most ardent Apple-haters, that's not what Samsung have done. Personally, I'd have liked to see Samsung show a bit more originality.

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      2. VeryUnlikely
        Reply Icon

        And why does the packaging for Samsung's Tab show the App Drawer, why not show TouchWiz?

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    2. EyeCU
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      Wrong way round

      Despite an overwhelming majority of people saying that neither the device or the UI look anything like an iPad you seem to see otherwise. Ever consider that it is you who are blind or at least have severe sensory input problems.

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  20. JohnG

    This competitor's product is much better than ours so we'll get it banned. Once people hear all the bad publicity, they won't want to buy one - because that's what happens when you tell people that something is banned and they can't have it. Oh wait....

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  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    look and feel

    In Apple v. Microsoft (1988-94), the U.S. courts were unwilling to consider overall 'look and feel' infringement, insisting instead to examine individual GUI elements. Because of a Windows 1.0 era license agreement with Apple covering many of those elements, the court(s) denied Apple's case.

    Right or wrong, it sounds like Apple is finally winning 'look and feel' arguments. Had Apple won that argument back in '88, Microsoft might not have survived (billg's words). Imagine.

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  22. json

    Judge: "The court is of the opinion that Apple’s minimalistic design isn’t the only technical solution to make a tablet computer, other designs are possible,".. shame on you Samsung for lacking in imagination they have not even considered the following non rectangular shapes like a round tablet or a triangular one?

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  23. amanfromearth

    Killer Illustration

    Simply put, this demonstrates what Samsung have done.

    http://photos.appleinsider.com/samsungvsapple.081911.jpg

    If you still don't think that's copy after seeing it, then there's no hope for you.

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    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Stop

      Woah there!

      Simply put, this demonstrates what Apple have done.

      http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/78/Rank_Xerox_8010%2B40_brochure_front.jpg

      If you still don't think that's copy after seeing it, then there's no hope for you.

      In other words: DEAL WITH IT, FANBUOY!

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