OMG they both show icons
Guilty as charged then. Forget the fact that it is the OS not the device that displays the icons. Does Apple really have the patent for 'icons on a desktop'?
Apple's court submission, which led to an EU ban on Samsung's sale of its rival Galaxy Tab device, contains one comparison which seems to warp reality to make its point. Apple claimed in a German court, which it also claimed in its submission to the Dutch court, that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a straight rip-off of …
I can't see why, except to be b*****rds, they think that rounded corners should be protected. Are they implying that Samsung should have to go with square corners, HTC use barbed wire on the corners and Motorolla put pins in the corners?
And as for "a flat surface centred within, and surrounded by, a metallic frame", well how many combinations can there be? When someone designs a plastic frame the others will be forced to go with wood, paper etc. And because Sony has already done a curved surface the options are pretty limited there too: ridged, anyone?
My laptop has rounded corners. It's an HP.
Joke alert, because Apple are a joke. They're trying to patent product classes. As I said once before, imagine if only the company which first put stereo speakers into a TV (and maybe called it an sTV) was ever allowed to put stereo speakers into a TV, on the grounds that any other product was an sTV rip-off.
Before Apple made the iPad, "tablet computing" meant a laptop with a swiveling touchscreen, or, if you want to go back further, devices like the Go PenPoint which was plastic, had square edges, stylus input, and IIRC no grid of icons to run "apps."
So if you mean "how many combinations can there be if you want your product to look and work like an iPad," then I suppose you're right, the answer is one.
It is a testament to Apple that they were able to completely revolutionize tablet computing so thoroughly that even technical people take the iPad design for granted. And this all happened in less than 2 years.
Before apple made the iPad Windows tablets were... Lets see now... From the view they have used in their pictures...
4:3 ratio rectangles with rounded corners and (as Windows has done since Windows 95) displayed a grid of icons on the desktop (or as Apple like to call it the home screen).
Yup - revolutionary!
I'll give you the glossy screen that reflects all the light sources! I didn't see those on the earlier tablets.
But remember, when the iPad came out, most people (including those in the media) had no idea what to make of it and were convinced it would be a failure--no keyboard, just a big cell phone, can't fit in a pocket, doesn't run Excel, etc. The best they could do was compare it to the Newton from 1991 which was a different form factor, was operated with a stylus, and had completely different software metaphors. (And failed.)
If it wasn't revolutionary, then there wouldn't have been any confusion or controversy.
Also, if you want to make a case that Windows tablets were/are basically the same as iPads, then you might as well argue that all electronic devices are the same since they all contain circuitry.
There was a ruggedized windows tablet (pad) in my office in 2005/6, which had rounded corners (though not as rounded as on the Galaxy Tab) and did not use a stylus. Icons were arranged in a grid on the desktop.
It is a testament to Apple's marketing team that people think these things did not exist before 2009. I also give them credit for making people think that they created a whole new product category instead of applying new technologies (eg. multitouch and accelerometer) to a product class for which no other manufacturer thought there was any market (an achievement which is not generally known because Apple's preferred myth prevails).
By "how many combinations" I mean how many if you want your device to look different to an iPad whilst still remaining functional. round corners, a flat screen and a grid of icons has been the obvious choice for a long time, although Android actually does things differently (unless you fall for Apple's "evidence"). If Apple had done something which had not been done before - if they had gone for pins in the corners and a ridged screen - and others had done the same, then they and you would have a point. Incidentally, the tablet (pad) in my office back then had ridged edges.
I'm always amazed that Apple can't do anything wrong for El Reg 'journalists'
Any other company offering falsified evidence to a court would be hammered on big time, but clearly Apple didn't mean it and it was all a big mistake and....
Look and Feel is EXACTLY why they took them to court, changing the pic to make it look even more like an ipad will have made the case for Apple even stronger.
/me now waits to be thumbed down by all the aliases of the El Reg people
No. Per the Reg article: "The stretched image could be justified by the need to emphasis the similarities by removing the disparities, though a footnote to that effect should surely have been included." As an attorney of more years than I care to mention, and with significantly more (American) courtroom trial experience than I care to recall, I believe not. I confess ignorance as to the point with other legal systems, but in an American court presenting false evidence, even to the possibly insignificant degree represented here, is a serious issue. Not noticing or misunderstanding what was done is not an excuse. If the evidence does not reflect what you want, then perhaps you should reconsider your arguments or position, not "adjust" the evidence. This kind of conduct undermines credibility in your position as a whole. Badly done, Apple. Badly done.
Using the logic of changing the dimensions the monitor sitting on my desk which no-one would ever think has copied an iPAD by looking at it would actually fit Apples claims of copying almost perfectly.
It has rounded corners, a flat square inner with a bezel of about the right size. My default desktop is covered with icons and has a hidden taskbar.
The only thing different is the proportions, and Apple know how to fix that! Viola my monitor is a rip-off of an iPAD!
"I'm always amazed that Apple can't do anything wrong for El Reg 'journalists'
Any other company offering falsified evidence to a court would be hammered on big time, but clearly Apple didn't mean it and it was all a big mistake and...."
I'm always amazed when people can't tell when facts are being presented in a way which avoids exposure to a libel claim. El Reg using 'We're not saying' here is much the same as if you say to your girlfriend 'I'm not saying you're fat, but I'm surprised at your choice of dress'. Try it, and see if she slaps you; after you find out you'll understand what's going on.
"So is it a language problem, cultural difference or developmental deficit that makes you think that this article is giving Apple an easy ride?"
No, it's this statement.
"The stretched image could be justified by the need to emphasis the similarities by removing the disparities"
Though I wouldn't go as far as saying the article as a whole was easy on Apple.
There is absolutely no excuse for doctoring evidence provided to a court and anyone who pretends otherwise is fooling themselves, which would be fine if they didn't put it in writing and attempt to fool us also.
There was a long period of time when Apple wouldn't talk to El Reg. They were not on good terms at all. The Register pissed off Apple so badly they wouldn't invite them to press conferences or reply to their messages. They really can't be accused of kissing anyone's ass. They even hit on their advertisers (sometimes). They're pretty fair in Biting the hand that feeds IT...
Apple made the iPad what it is by it's advertising. PERIOD. And quite frankly it's a pretty amazing gadget. But being that Apple made the iPad what it is by telling the public what it is, it stands to reason that a judge will listen to Apple because Apple is the creator of the iPad, and the judge doesn't know anything about any other iPads before hand because they do not know how to advertise to the public, so in the end Apple owns it, and majority of the world sees it that way, and it's going to take one hell of a lawyer to change the perception of millions of people. Right or wrong this is all credited to Apple's marketing.
Yes these were out in some for or fashion before, but not many knew about them, or cared. Apple made them what they are. Whether anyone likes it or not. They will reap the rewards for it, and will stop the sale of the Galaxy or any other device being sold if they can according to the laws of the country they are in.
Maybe in the U.S. to portray those two pics side by side is wrong, but perhaps not in certain parts of Europe.
wrt "When switched on, the text continues, both devices present an array of icons as shown in the image"
When I switch on my honeycomb devices I arrive at the home screen which is not in any way like the iPad app icon grid array. The photo show the App drawer of honeycomb, not the home screen. The picture and supporting text is very misleading in this regard. Were Samsung asleep at the back of the court?
"Were Samsung asleep at the back of the court?"
They were not present.. this was an ambush.
Tellingly, as well as putting the Galaxy into it's application menu, they have changed the orientation; the default for Honeycomb tablets is landscape mode. A clear difference to the default portrait mode of the iPad.
As others have noticed elsewhere they fescked with the colours too; they have darkened the surround so as to make the Samsung logo near invisible.
Elsewhere in the submission they present pictures of the back of the devices to show similarity.. however they forget to clearly emphasise that the iPad has a metal back, GalaxyII is plastic. And everywhere else in the document they use oblique angled photos of the devices in their comparisons, with the iPad angled more to make it's aspect ratio difference less obvious.
But it's all perfectly understandable; probably a typo. nothing to worry about huh?
"they filed an opposition the week before the ruling"
A single letter; and that's all they had time to prepare; I suspect they thought this was just another joke sabre rattling lawsuit from the past masters of 'how dare you copy this idea! we copied it first!'
On the other hand; this is just broke Europe; it's not like the ban is in force for the Asia; the US or anywhere that really matters as a market. Maybe they cannot be bothered and are happy to let Apple waste resources here.
Did anyone claim it is? I think in the context, it was being used for emphasis.
Being smug and prudish in public isn't clever either. As noted elsewhere, those who eschew swearing are usually those with the most limited vocabularies, possibly because they can't fit any more into their tiny little minds.
Sherlock icon, because look! The alt-text has a rudey word in it!
When will all the makers of those photo-frame displays, which surely predate the ipad, be suing apple for look and feel? Oh, and the TV makers, I'm sure they're, um, a display with a surround, in a generally rectangular shape? How about books and magazines? Generally rectangular...?
You get the picture. How many ways are there to present a touch-screen display?
1) rectangular
2) see (1)
3) er, that's it.
If they let Apple get away with this, then the floodgates are open. Say goodbye to standardisation; every phone will have to be a different shape; the steering wheel on new cars might have to move to the back seat, the keys on my keyboard will have to move.
Idiots.
Here's an easy question: does the device that Apple are worried about have 'Made by Apple' on the box? If it doesn't, it's not an Apple. Case closed.
There is just no way for this to hold up in court with all the prior art. I had Windows tablets almost 20 years ago that would fit the description given by Apple quite well. Sure they were thicker but their basic form is still quite similar. I doubt even Apple would be dumb enough to try to patent thinness.
Go back to the original description as to why they are suing.
Look at the first Galaxy S phone, it looks like a 3GS, the shape, the silver piping around the casing.
See picture:
http://news.idealo.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/iphone-3gs-vs-samsung-galaxy-s.jpg
There are also similarities in the GUI that simply can't be explained by coincidence. HTC and Motorola's phones don't look like that.
This isn't about a tablets looking similar, the tablet is only featured to show similarities in the UI.
...that the RCD they have cited in all their complaints does not depict a UI of any kind. (It also, as I never tire of repeating, does not depict an iPad: it was filed in 2004 and is entirely different from the iPad RCDs, which were filed in 2010). Don't listen to Apple's PR spin; the actual design they are suing over has nothing to do with the iPad or iOS. It's a small set of line drawings of a generic tablet device. You can look it up at http://oami.europa.eu/RCDOnline/RequestManager if you like.
They are both shown at the same height, but not the same proportions. The Tab is clearly narrower than the iPad, as one would expect with the silly 16:9 (or is it 16:10 -- whatever) aspect ration of the Tab.
Have a look at the rest of the photos in the submission, and I don't think you can argue that Apple's lawyers are purposefully misrepresenting the Tab's shape and size.
Ah, well, I'll file this under 'more Apple click-bait'. I guess it worked...
True the Tab does look Narrower in the Apple photo, but not nearly Narrow enough for it to be Widescreen. Looks at the pics from the dutch article. The Tab is far Narrower than that pic suggests... want an independent opinion, google image the galaxy tab for yourself. Oh and teh fact that their picture isn't even samsung branded speaks volumes too.
As for the Silly Wisdescreen aspect ratio, you're right it is silly. That must be why all current films are made in this aspect ration, all TV's Laptops, PC monitors are widescreen. The iPad must be right.
I'll also echo what others have said. Android uses a homescreen with widgets, not an array of icons. It's one of the things I like about android over iOS
Now call me old fashioned but if you are going to court and a judge is going to make a decision on the similarity of two products, wouldn't it make sense to have the physical products there for assesment rather than pictures/drawings/sketches/etc
Surely this would be the way to make the hearing fair.
Widescreen came about because t.v.'s were using the same 4:3 aspect ratio that films were using. To distinguish itself from television and maintaining it's market, the film industry began to move to widescreen. It also began to expand the use of colour.
Hard to justify the cost of taking the family to see the newest film when you can just wait and either rent or own it for much less.
"Widescreen came about because t.v.'s were using the same 4:3 aspect ratio that films were using. To distinguish itself from television and maintaining it's market, the film industry began to move to widescreen. It also began to expand the use of colour."
What a load of bollocks.
The 4:3 ratio came about because it was the widest ratio that was possible with the technology at the time (Early CRT). If they had had the tech back then it would have been a wider ratio right from the get go - the reason for widescreen is that human vision is about that proportion.
It is far easier to get widescreen ratio using a projector than with a CRT, which is why cinema went that way first.
Don't just make stuff up - it makes you look like a twat.
"Widescreen came about because t.v.'s were using the same 4:3 aspect ratio that films were using. To distinguish itself from television and maintaining it's market, the film industry began to move to widescreen. It also began to expand the use of colour.
Hard to justify the cost of taking the family to see the newest film when you can just wait and either rent or own it for much less."
I think you give the movie industry far too much credit to have forseen video rentals in 1953 (when 'widescreen' format appeared in major pictures).
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Academy_ratio
if we're citing Wikipedia, the page on anamorphic format does claim "CinemaScope was one of many widescreen formats developed in the 1950s to compete with the popularity of television and bring audiences back to the cinemas."
VCRs weren't around in the 1950s, but TVs sure were, and movies were being broadcast on TV.
I suspect the truth is a bit of both - there were probably True Believers around who genuinely believed widescreen was inherently a better ratio, and also movie theater owners who recognized the potential to help them compete with TV. It doesn't really have to be one or the other. The format could be promoted for 'technical' reasons and backed by theaters for commercial reasons.
Saying that both devices show a grid of icons when switched on is a lie.
The iPad shows a grid of icons, the Tab shows a homescreen full of widgets with some icons.
Not only is the image resized to match proportions, it's also set to a view the is not equivalent to that of the iPad.
(Where'd the evil Steve icon go?!)
Oh crap, there'll be ASCI art all over El Reg now...
\ ______|\_____*-----------------------
\/ _ ¦¦ '_\
/\____________/
/
That's supposed to be shark with a frikin laser beam, but I'm not so good at this, proportional fonts blah blah.
It's disgusting - poor Apple have the idea of putting rounded corners on things and then everyone rips off their radical, ground-breaking, innovative inventions. Quick look round the office and it's obvious that the rip-off merchants are everywhere - my laptops have rounded corners, my monitors, my desktop pcs, my desk itself, the mains plugs, even my coffee mug and biscuits - and my apple! Dear God, where will it end? I think that nice Mr Jobs should immediately sue everyone in the whole wide world and demand a ban on the sale or ownership of anything with a rounded corner that isn't made by him.
(Hang on, doesn't the Earth have rounded corners?)
... that even Apple would be arrogant enough ...
YOU MUST BE JOKING. One thing that has become clearer over the last few years is that Apple has arrogance coming out of its ears. It probably never even crossed their collective minds that falsifying evidence in a court submission was wrong. They are Apple. If Apple do it, it is right.
Although that might lead to a massive improvement in the brevity and accuracy of all business law suits, except those involving Apple.
And yes I know there might be a teensie bit of prior art from notable companies in the past, but they are hardly likely to say "no no, we invented lying in court filings". They have proxies to sure for them in cases like that ;)
Paris - because even she knows when to keep her briefs in order. Well most of the time anyway.
Apple should be thrown out of court and slapped with a massive fine for falsifying information. Although their document does not cover the dimensions, there is no excuse for tampering with the information.
Apple's description of: "both devices have rounded corners and feature a flat surface centred within, and surrounded by, a metallic frame."...yeah well so does every single digital photo frame. Is Apple going to sue them too??
And then: "When switched on, the text continues, both devices present an array of icons as shown in the image"...as other's point out. This is not true. The first screen presented in the home screen which can be customised as you please. Out of the box, it looks nothing like the ipads home screen. What you see in the image is the app drawer which has to be opened explicitly.
I'm extremely disappointed with El Reg journalists who seem to be so biased towards Apple. Apple are completely evil. They are now seeing other companies as a threat. Rather than competing on producing better products and better pricing. They're going about it the only way they know how...sue the pants off everyone!
I wish all these patent litigations issues were put to an end so everyone can go back to competing on producing better products.
i have an old tv in the loft that looks similar to the ipad, and that pre-dates iphones, let alone ipads.
apple should be barred from any further court action if it falsifies any more shit.
yes, i have an iphone4 (i got it free from work) but i would never buy an apple product. user friendliness isnt everything.
ive been at hospital for a week on and off with my wife, having our son. there is an open wifi that i need to log into to use. every time im there i have to keep messing around switching off the wi-fi else every time i look at the phone i asks me to connect, no matter how many times i tell it to ignore this network.
when this phone dies it will be replaced by an android handset of some sort and i will be back to a happy none-apple life. im a techie, i like flexibility, apple dont like this
didn't get an opportunity to make its case to the German court before the injunction was granted. They will later this month. I suspect the German judge will look on this with a dim view. Even if Apple can prove the image used was a Samsung-sourced image of a prototype this could still be seen as submitting intentionally misleading documents to a court. The same may go for Apple's efforts to prove the UI is a slavish copy. As other posters have said, that's not what you see when you switch a Galaxy Tab 10.01 - or any other Honeycomb device - on.
The truth - arguable.
The whole truth - deliberately omitting the differences and neglecting to mention that the screens shown are not the default ones in both cases? - FAIL.
Nothing but the truth - manipulated images? - FAIL
Only getting a possible 1 out of 3 would seem suspiciously like perjury to me......
is that the Tab's "Samsung" branding is removed from the photograph. Had that been left on, it would have demonstrated (as per the review shot on the left of the article) that the default view for the Tab is landscape. So, Apple have had to:
1. Mislead the court about the size and aspect ratio of the Tab
2. Mislead the court about the user interface of the Tab (and other Honeycomb devices)
3. Mislead the court about the default orientation and thus expected use of the device
...and after all that, the Reg still has the brass neck to post creepy spin like "More likely, however, is that Apple presented the image to show the similarities beyond the physical shape..." .
It bears repeating that Apple did not invent tablet computers. Nor did they invent tablet computers that display a grid of icons on the screen (hint: Google (I had to say it...) Motion Computing and many others). They didn't invent touchscreens, nor yet did they invent capacitative touchscreens. I don't object to their defending their legitimate IP. This is not that. This is an abuse of the legal process, and in light of this, blatantly dishonest abuse at that.
For all the baying of the fanbois there are only three innovative things about the iWotsit line (starting with the original iPhone):
1) Multitouch - I think Apple were the first to actually use this deliberately; as a way of extending the UI.
2) Integration - They finally did what other handset manufacturers failed to do, they made all the parts of the phone behave as one coherent whole. No more having a different UI for each function.
3) Focus - iOS devices tend to work well for ordinary users; Steve and his cohorts ruthlessly squashed the crap bugs and usability missteps that bedevilled other offerings or rendered them as geek toys incomprehensible to mere mortals.
But that's it.. everything else was just redoing what others had done before in a way that worked. The iPad is no different.
Oh, and check out Star Trek, the Next Generation (ca. the 80's); the crew there wander around with rectangular touchscreen terminals called PADD's
1) It's a pretty close call with Microsoft's "Surface" - announced on May 29, 2007. That's 4 months after the iPhone but the chance of it being a copy is remote, and it had functionality which the iPhone didn't.
2) You never had a Palm phone, did you? Eg. Categories were used across apps; birthdays, calendar and tasks were brought together in the Today page. Windows phones did similar things I believe.
3) I'm an ordinary user and never had a problem with bugs in phone OSs. They all worked well.
You could add "Creating an ecosystem to suck money from the punters", which is the only real innovation I can see in the iPhone (based on my usage of various products, some of which had MMS and copy/paste even before Jobs invented them for the iPhone!). But the ecosystem is more a business model than a product. And it's not necessarily a good thing.
As covered by el Reg some time ago....
http://www.reghardware.com/2011/02/07/apple_ipad_tomorrow_people/
Oh no its prior art:
"complete with silvery casing, shiny black bezel and 9.7in display - during the ITV series that ran from 1973 to 1979"
In shock news, electronic paper device is a) the size of a piece of paper, b) needs a frame around it so you don't keep breaking or bending it, and c) offers choices of things via icons.
Hang on that latter claim sounds familiar. The original "look and feel" suit between none other than Apple and Microsoft, which vigorously tried to ignore the fact that ALL the key work had been previously done at Xerox's research centre. And quoting "that wiki" (although I try not to) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer,_Inc._v._Microsoft_Corporation
Quoth He:
The court ruled that, "Apple cannot get patent-protection for the idea of a graphical user interface, or the idea of a desktop metaphor [under copyright law]..."[1] In the midst of the Apple v. Microsoft lawsuit, Xerox also sued Apple alleging that Mac's GUI was heavily based on Xerox's.[2] The district court dismissed Xerox's claims without addressing whether Apple's GUI infringed Xerox's, since the latter licensed it to the former back in 1979 for pre-IPO stock.[3] Apple lost all claims in the Microsoft suit except for the ruling that the trash can icon and folder icons from Hewlett-Packard's NewWave windows application were infringing.
I would also add 4) the App store.
before the app store Symbian/Java phones were infested with crappy apps of dubious value that were often harbouring borderline malware.
Remember those dodgy ringtone adverts that used to run on TV which lured kids into signing up to "premium SMS services" that cost $$$ per day?
They are a thing of the past now, thankfully.
Surely passing a judgement based solely on photographic evidence says more about the photographs than the actual objects. I would have thought that the judgement should have been about the similarity of the object themselves rather than the similarity of the photographs.
Isn't it beyond the wit of the judge or his attendants to obtain samples of the objects. Then the court can actually see/handle the objects for itself. Then judgement can then be made on the similarity of the objects rather than their representations?
You can relax a little; it is not a judgment, it is an injunction. It is a temporary way to stop whatever is going on that is complained about until everybody can get together in court and a final decision reached. Admittedly, Apple has presented a false face with their presentation, but the judge cannot be blamed for that, as the general (American) rule is to decide such a request based on the evidence presented at the hearing. Apparently this particular court requires only the complainant appear, and any granted injunction is applied for a relatively short time - I believe Samsung will have an opportunity to speak within the month or so. From what I am seeing, the chances of the the injunction being dissolved are pretty good.
I'd be worried about keeping my job. He clearly did a complete half-arsed job of assessing the evidence, failed to ask the plaintiffs to provide physical examples of the devices for comparison, and, reportedly, exceeded his authority in banning the thing anyway.
It wouldn't surprise me to learn that he had recently become the owner of a manila envelope full of large denomination Euro notes. From a completely unrelated source, obviously.
I think Samsung were not at all asleep at the wheel when they allowed this injunction to happen in AU then then the EU. It's more likely they did it for the free publicity, free anger of the mass at the approach Apple has taken, and for the suit against apple for LOST REVENUE due to misleading materials presented to the court such as what is surfacing at the moment.
But I guess we find out how this will play out next week...
Erm, they were served with an injunction that didn't need the target of the injunction to be present to defend themselves or even be notified about it, apparently.
It's like some dictatorship where the dissident gets pulled out of their house and thrown into jail at around the same time some show-trial is winding down where the faked up evidence has just been presented to an audience consisting of chums of the dictator and various yes-men.
Apple are really starting to show their true colours, don't get me wrong some of their kit is good and look nice (i personal quite like the look of a MacBook Pro) but slapping patent / copy write suits on any one who become too big a competitor to them is just showing how stupid and "evil" they are.
i probably one buy any apple products because of it where if they we're doing it i probably would (although i would still have installed windows on it).
So what if the submissions from one side are misleading? It is exactly this sort of thing that the opposition lawyers are paid to discover and point out to the court.
I also have to presume that the actual devices themselves were presented by one or both sides in the courtroom for the judge(s) to directly compare and spot the similarity/differences for themselves and therefore in no way do the submissions made comprise the totality of the evidence and should not be generating the types of comments that I've seen above.
"...should not be generating the types of comments that I've seen above".
If you'd actually seen the comments above you would have found that
"I also have to presume that the actual devices themselves were presented by one or both sides in the courtroom for the judge(s) to directly compare and spot the similarity/differences for themselves..."
is a completely incorrect presumption.
Also, there was only one judge.
"I also have to presume that the actual devices themselves were presented..."
No-one is forcing you to presume that. The fact that the article is based around the *images* presented to the court would lead any right-thinking person to presume that the devices weren't presented to the court. If they had been, the image manipulation issue would have arisen during the original hearing.
"Both devices have rounded corners and feature a flat surface centred within, and surrounded by, a metallic frame. When switched on, the text continues, both devices present an array of icons as shown in the image."
Both are also "Universal Apple Machines" as described by Mr. Apple in his groundbreaking paper "On Computable Numbers, with an Appleication to the iScheidungsproblem".
Clearly, there is IP to protect.
A portable PC including a build in power supply, keyboard and LCD monitor, you say? Folds in half for easy transport and to protect the screen? PATENT PATENT PATENT SUE SUE SUE.
Hopefully, like the mobile phone world, this is just a phase we're going through.
Fine 250M Euro
Disqualification of Director(s)
Pay costs plus triple damages to Samsung and print a very public grovelling apology
iCrap products banned from sale in Europe until an external investigation into anti-competitive practices is completed. Preferably by Steely Neelie.
That might make the mendacious bastards think twice next time they try to damage a competitor's business instead of competing with it.
Well it appears you can't have a device with round edges or a flat screen so I'm proposing something radical.
The edge of the device will be serrated rusty (to avoid being chrome or shiny) jagged bits of metal that can slice fingers off in a jiffy and the screen will have the texture of the M62 over the Pennines. It will run a version of Commodore 64 BASIC to avoid the icons.
"More likely, however, is that Apple presented the image to show the similarities beyond the physical shape"
What's this???? a fanboi reporter explaining away the iTampering of iEvidence???!!!!!
How would Bill Ray feel if he was brought up in court and the plods said "this is Bill Ray's fingerprints but we've altered^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hpresented the image to show the similarities with the yorkshire ripper"
That's perjury in my book.
I think steve just took away larry's title as "prince of darkness"
New standard unit for elReg, how low can you go, as low as an Apple Lawyer.
Was the judge such an idiot not to realize that rounded corners are a safety issue, for any device of some weight carried around all the time? What other similarities were there?
Being the cynical kind I sometimes wonder whether judges make questionable rulings because they've been incentivized, or they are just ignorant?
I am the cynical sort.
Of course they are just ruling on the law as it stands
If Apple have to stoop to these depths to get a competitive edge on Samsung's Tab, then they must be very concerned about the quality of that product, perhaps so concerned that they feel the Galaxy Pad could take a high proportion of their Market share if allowed a clear run?
Of course, this tactic could also blow up in their face ...
Or we could all just lose interest in 'Tablets', realising that they are just a 'fad' after all ....
The way apple are behaving lately surely comes close to vexatious litigation or some EU equivalent. They should slapped with a big fine and a legal injunction against bringing any further action related to ipad or any such bollocks.
I hope they get slapped with a contempt of court judgment over this and get some EU action that they will actually care about. Not holding my breath though.
Looking forward to some Samsung advertising along the lines of "the tablet apple is afraid of"
Open your eyes - Samsung are blatantly knocking off Apple designs. Apple *made* this market, in the face of ridicule of many in the tech industry. There was no certainty whatsoever that the device would catch on - it could have been a major flop (and PR disaster) for Apple. But it worked - the years of research, planning, testing, and refining paid off (it was designed prior to the iPhone).
Now the "me-too" crowd is trying to cash in. How much R&D do you think they have expended? Beyond, "make something like the iPad", that is? Samsung even publicly stated it was revising its 'design' of this device after viewing the upcoming iPad 2. Samsung should be ashamed of its plagiaristic behaviour. Are all the people condemning Apple really so fond of rip-off merchants? How would you feel if you invested years of your life and your savings in developing something, only to have someone run off with the market when you actually started to succeed (and earn back your investment)?
Is this the kind of tech you support? A knocked off operating system driven by an advertising firm and distributed through bottom-feeding cloners? Sounds like hell to me. My money is going to the innovators.
The lawsuit relates to look and feel.
So, by your comment in relation to the article, innovation means designing something that is rectangular, flat, has a screen in the middle and has rounded corners.
That's innovation?
Innovation has come from the companies who make the screens, the processors, the memory chips, the wireless capabilities etc. Designing a rectangular box is not innovation.
Otherwise anyone else who makes and distrubutes a tablet computer is encroaching on the market they created. Grow Up. This is the world we live in. Apple would not be allowed to open its doors unless there was healthy competition waiting out there. Have you never played monopoly?!
If you honestly think that Apples case holds water then you are either a fool or have not looked at the relevant documents. The Link is in the reg article, and sure enough I can't read German but the pictures there speak volumes.
Here is the link http://www.scribd.com/doc/61993811/10-08-04-Apple-Motion-for-EU-Wide-Prel-Inj-Galaxy-Tab-10-1
Go to page 38 where they talk about Samsungs infringement on the packaging box... Tell me that kellogs shouldn't expect a call?!
If there was no Me too crowd we would all be driving the same car, wearing the same clothes and drinking the same vodka because we would be in soviet Russia.
Have you even read the other comments ? Apple DID NOT invent tablet computers. They've been around for years. They made them popular sure because technology had advanced enough to make them more practical. So your argument is "the first corporation to popularize something should be granted a legal monopoly."
There is not enough palm for this face.
Could some one reccomend a a deprogrammer for Ralph, you know, the sort that restores normality after you have been brainwashed by a dangerous cult.
Going to buy something from the innovators Ralph? Great idea, you can get one of these on ebay.
Lenovo ThinkPad X41, circa 2004/2005, predates the iFad by about 6 years
Actually if you bother to check you tech-history, apple have indeed ripped off and incorporated many advances in hardware and software to make these products.
They were lucky that at the time they released the ipad, consumer decided it was a format they were willing to carry around. There have over the years been many attempts to mass-release this sort of product.
You have no idea what you are talking about, you are clearly blinkered. I suggest you look at world market trends and not just your arse for information when posting.
Far be it for me to defend apple in this case but I think there is a slight subtlety most are missing here :
This is the Dutch court submission. No where in the story does it say whether Apple submitted this pic to the german court that applied the Eurowide ban.
I tend to view this whole episode as a bit of mischief making on Apples part. It's probably cost them tops a couple of e100,000 in lawyers fees - probably considerably less as I suspect it was fairly minimal junior lawyer work.
Frankly if most companies saw the opportunity to completely throw a competitors distribution chain into chaos that cheaply they would do it. Apple probably pissed themselves laughing when the German Judge enforced the ban.
I'm quite frankly a little bit disappointed, ElReg, because if you had actually read the court filing, which you provided a link to, you would have noticed that on page 27 of the filing, which is ONE page before the picture you published here, the proportions are correct. (And in the rest of the entire document too)
So yes, your guess is right, it was apparently pictured like that to make a point regarding the UI.
Hell you don't even need to understand German. Just look at the pictures.
By the way, the filing was to a German court, not a Dutch court -- another case of bending the truth, as you put it yourself.
Worst research ever, and on top of that so obvious.
I think it's obvious the Tab is a ripoff of the iPad so I understand why Apple are protective of their iPad here. At the same time I really don't think it helps their case to distort the device to make comparisons which don't exist such as the aspect ratio and dimensions. So if they get slapped down for this then more fool them. As for Samsung, maybe if they stopped trying to rip off designs and produced their own tablet, one which played to Android's strengths (e.g. openess, non proprietary ports), they wouldn't find themselves in this shit in the first place.
I don't like Apple one bit but even I am not surprised that they would feel angry about It's not just because it's a rectangle that Apple are pissed, it's because the tab lifts wholesale the aesthetics from the iPad - curves, bezel, colours, hinting etc.
I don't care if Apple lose I might add but I can understand why they're pissed. There are numerous ways Samsung could have styled their tablet. A Xoom looks nothing like an iPad. Neither does an Iconia. Nor an Eee Pad. Nor in fact do many tablets apart from some cheap Chinese knockoffs. Samsung basically just said "copy Apple" and here we are.
Another interesting factoid is that the nephew of Samsung's president has even ripped off one of Apple's accessories - the smart cover which rolls up into a stand. Samsung has certified this smart cover for the Tab surprise surprise.
Apple did not invent rounded corners.
Apple did not invent the bezel.
Apple did not invent the colour black.
Apple are basically trying to claim ownership over the concept of a tablet computer when all they've done is recreate something I saw on Star Trek TNG about ten year ago.
"The text below the comparison (page 28 of the German court filing) points out that both devices have rounded corners and feature a flat surface centred within, and surrounded by, a metallic frame. "
oh and that includes the old Trinitron Sony's (circa 1969) located in my old work, so then Apple where's the time machine patent?
So, let me get this straight. A court banned the sale because of a few pics and a complaint from Apple and THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A LOOK AT REAL ONES? So, if I photoshop a picture of myself from 10 years ago holding what looks like an iPhone, can I just have a court ban iPhone sales in Europe for a while until Apple put a counter-claim in and go through all the work of proving that, in fact, I was probably not really telling the truth?
"both devices have rounded corners and feature a flat surface centred within, and surrounded by, a metallic frame".
Just like my black and white TV from 1978!
"When switched on, the text continues, both devices present an array of icons as shown in the image."
Just like my Tandy 1000 running Windows 3.1!
I'm pretty sure my Tandy booted to a dos prompt and you had to type 'win' to launch 3.1? Or 'wp' to launch wordperfect yada yada. That Tandy is in a box somewhere around here... right next to my TRS80.. they still boot although it has been some time since I looked hehe.
Ol' Steve would probably shit himself if he saw my machines running Win7/2008R2 - taskbar at the top of the screen with winstep/nexus running at the bottom. Never bought into Macos, but I do like the look and feel lol.
For the record, I own an Acer Iconia A500 - superior to the Samsung iMHO
;)
'Bout time they grew up.
"both devices have rounded corners and feature a flat surface centred within, and surrounded by, a metallic frame" - boo hoo, so does my table for god's sake, didn't know Apple invented such a radical design...
I really like my iPad but Apple really p me off...
apple REALLY needs to be BITCH-SLAPPED for perfidious act. Once Germany gets to the internal circuitry and othe architectural differences, it should censure apple and force it to make a public apology to Europe AND to Koreans for insulting Samsung. It is damned-near the equivalent of microsoft faking its desktops to win a point in court.
Again, apple, should auto makers sue each other based on the look and feel of cars? The number of doors? The presence of wheels, brakes, recessed door-opening handles? Is there a patent on transversely-mounted transmissions and engines? Maybe there are patents on the LOOKS and DIMENSIONS of these things, but they can be engineered to look different and still do the job.
Should would-be makers of baby diapers be dissuaded from entry because an elastic band in ubituity used by one maker should be consider "novel" rather than "obvious"?
For all the dip sh1ts who think apple have revolutionised the market with their ipad, sorry to bust your bubble, this "design" has been around for many many years, has come and gone, and now that there is a market for the product, it has been a success for Apple. Success found at a time when technology and demand are in parity does not equate to revolutionary. They are just lucky that this time round the tablet computer is more widely acceptable to the masses.
Lets get this straight., Apple did not invent the internet, apple did not invent the MP3, Apple did not invent touch screens, Apple did not invent LCD displays, Apple did not invent "software/coding/machine code", Apple did not invent video formats, apple did not invent Wifi, Apple did not invent 2/3/4G comms. THESE THINGS ARE THE REVOLUTIONARY PRODUCTS THAT YOU AND ME USE. Apple merely packaged a few of them together, cleverly, to make their product.
Now,.. as for complaining to a court that a "home" screen with icons (Apple did not invent icons) (apple didn't invent "home" screens either) looks like theirs is blatantly misleading and needs further investigation.
I was personally very happy to hear that Google have decided to purchase Motorola, I sincerely hope that within the 7000 patents they will gain, that something crapple are doing is found to be infringing and they get slapped with a EU ban.
Steve Jobs and Co. would have you all chained to their products if they could. What ever happened to good old CHOICE of product.
What's next? Go to iWork on the iBus, eat my iLunch, have some iWater, go home have some iSex with the iWife, feed the iCat and sleep in my iBed?
"So this section of the argument is not about the physical proportions of the device, but about the overall look."
And to Bill Ray a circle is the same shape as an oval, apparently.
Don't forget, Apple tired to patent icons and failed, because Apple ripped the concept off of Xerox PARC.
Rounded corners patentable?
Maybe Jobs thinks he can patent black screens?
Apple "ripped the concept off?" Please get your facts straight. Here's a little excerpt from Wikipedia, (which I'm using simply because it's a convenient summary of history of events I already know to be true):
"In the mid 1980s, Apple considered buying Xerox; however, a deal was never reached. Apple instead bought rights to the Alto GUI [where the Window, Icon, Menu and Pointing metaphors were first developed] and adapted it into to a more affordable personal computer, aimed towards the business and education markets."
There are many cases of a design's look and feel being patentable and patented, and those patent holders take whatever steps are necessary to protect their patents. Don't minimize the amount of research and development Apple puts into every product they release. It's not that they "happened to get lucky this time." They have amazingly brilliant people working to "get it right," they have a mission, a vision, a world-view, which comes out in their products. There is very little left to chance.
For the startling physical similarity between the iPad and the LG DP391B tablet DVD player.
Icons on a desktop have been around so long that really is stretching it. However, the LG DP391B waqs released 2 years before the iPad, has a rectangular screen that's bordered in black in similar proportions, rounded corners and a button located at one end to switch it on.
It's a bit thicker than an iPad as it has a DVD reader built into it but the layout is, by Apples actions, close enough to be evidence that they are being dishonest regarding the originality of their design. I could go on about the video doing the rounds of Job's telling how Apple shamelessly steal and the alleged unauthorised integration of a rejected app into iOS but I can't be bothered.
Innovators innovate. Only when you've truly run out of ideas do you need to start throwing flaky law suits at people.
Re the icon layout. When you "turn on" an android tablet you don't see the app icons. This is inaccurate - as you first see the Android desktop homescreen. Those icons are available only after pressing the apps butoon.
Surely Apple can't patent the icon layout, or its functionality, as Computer operating systems have shown icons in a grid pattern for years since the days of the GEM desktop back in the early-mid 1980s
Another issue is - what about tablet PCs - designed and implemented by Microsoft - surely these too are a patent issue - probably not because they've never sold in sufficient numbers to become a threat to Apple - Which lets face it, is what this is really all about.
Perhaps the original designer of the classroom slate should be filing ;) Oh, thats probably lapsed by now!
...The fact remains that the arguments must have been vetted by the courts, and I assume Samsung had an opportunity to chime in, and I would also assume that the decision was not made based on this picture alone (which honestly makes them look as similar as a Mac and a Windows PC side by side).
If Apple's overall argument was convincing enough to the courts, they were entitled to win on the merits of their case.
Yes, we would like an answer regarding the apparent doctoring of this image, but the crux of the matter is not whether the two devices look alike. It's about overall look and feel of the design, together with operational considerations. And, c'mon, guys - it does look like an iPad. Don't doctor the images, just turn the thing sideways! Sheesh.
Further on my previous post. I wish that I had reviewed the court filing before I posted my comment. I am now 100% behind Apple's position. The look, feel, packaging design, everything about the Galaxy is made to be just like the iPad. Do yourselves a favor, do a wee bit of research, and look. It's really inexcusable for Samsung to go that route.
Furthermore, on the "doctored" picture. It's not altered or P'shopped. Have you ever rotated your iPad 90 degrees? Did you know you could do that with a Galaxy too? Wow, suddenly a landscape orientation becomes portrait. Look closely at the picture. You can barely make out the camera lens in the border on the left. The device has simply been rotated, to show the similarity.
This whole article, and the arguments against Apple because of it, are pathetic. The lack of research and actual thought-process is just stunning.
I refer you to the original document that El Reg got this from.
http://webwereld.nl/nieuws/107599/apple-levert-onjuist-bewijs-in-zaak-tegen-samsung.html
My Dutch isn't up to mutch, but they've carefully done a diagram annotated in English, which shows that the aspect ratio of a Galaxy Tab is 1.46:1, and the alleged Galaxy Tab is 1.36:1.
No further comment is really required.
and look who's making it!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/18/samsung_tsv_rdimms/
No doubt Apple will patent a device that contains it one day and then sue Samsung for making something vaguely not too dissimilar, in colour and format! Cos let's face it, nothing else about the iPad and the Tab are similar really, even the curved edges, are curved in a completely different way!
Whether Apple doctored the images or not, this is ridiculous! Apple never made anything in black, with curved edges and a screen in the middle until the iPhone. Samsung on the other hand, well their TVs are black with curved edges and a screen, their photo frames are black with curved edges and a screen and my old Samsung e800, which I bought before the iPhone ever came out, was black, with curved edges a metalic frame around the screen, with part-touch screen and icons on the desktop, 3g capability and all that comes with it such as email etc. So I reckon Samsung should be sueing them instead!
Hi K9Gardener,
You may have read the court filing. You assume that closely matched packaging is a patent or copyright infringement? Unless patented technology has been used without license, it is not a patent infringement. It is not even copyright infringement unless it copies registered trademarked logos and slogans to a level whereby the result could harm a competitors brand by being confused with it (something very difficult if a product is clearly labelled, e.g, "SAMSUNG" rather than "APPLE").
If close appearance was an issue, there are many cars on the road that would fall foul. My sterring wheel is round, made of leather, contains a horn and an airbag and has a makers logo in the centre.... now how many steering wheels are copies of one another and should result in injuntions preventing sale against the manufacturers for the vehicles they appear in?
Second, you also said "The fact remains that the arguments must have been vetted by the courts". This is not true, not fact. Courts rely on expert witnesses in cases of patents within the fields of IT, science, biometrices and many others. The courts themselves have no expertise to vet such a claim. It would be for a later court hearing for Samsung and/or Apple to bring in both physical products, prove they are the actual products and then compare the physical items and see (argue over) where patent and trademarks have been infringed.
If, based on a filing, the courts banned the Samsung tab, you cannot assume they went out to buy both an iPad and the Samsung tab to assess the truth of the initial filing.