back to article Apple adds Galaxy S 4 to Samsung patent suit

Apple has ratcheted-up its patent-infringment attack on Samsung, asking the US District Court of California to add Sammy's new smartphone flagship, the Galaxy S 4, to the list of products that Apple alleges violate its patents. That handset was launched with hella hoopla this March (and reviewed by The Reg this Monday), and is …

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  1. Steve Todd
    Stop

    Apple didn't ask for triple damages (they asked for roughly an extra 30% based on a jury finding of bad faith, triple is the statutory maximum only awarded in extreme circumstances) nor did the judge "trim" the amount awarded. What happened in that case was the amount was referred back to jury trial for decision on the correct amount, there being some confusion over the original calculation. The result may be anything from zero to much more than the original award, depending on how the new jury feel.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Man, Apple and their 30% cut...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You have got to feel some sympathy with Apple..... Haven't you?

  2. Cliff

    Hopefully the judge will see sense...

    ...and tell them to fuck off and only come back when they can behave like grown ups.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hopefully the judge will see sense...

      GO APPLE. APPLE FTW.

      ETC.

  3. Blain Hamon

    Hands up those surprised?

    However you view this case, or whomever's in the right (or that it's both handbags at dawn), this is pretty much to be expected.

    The next step, however, is for Samsung to take advantage of Apple's keeping to 22 devices and to announce 25 more devices, titled Samsung Galaxy A to Galaxy Z (They already have an S), so that they still have 4 outside the scope of the suit.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Since they are so far down that road anyway, why don't Apple do a Bose or Bissell and concentrate on advertising to the bewildered in publications like People's Friend or Reader's Digest?

    Do they do Bakelite in white?

    1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      > Do they do Bakelite in white?

      yep. Think light switches. Rounded corners and all.

  5. Bob Vistakin
    Facepalm

    Lets see if they get their newspaper apology right this time

    It would be so embarrassing if they were told they apologised wrong and had to do it again. And again.

    Oh, wait...

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I blame Microsoft

    Captain Ahab Apple still going after Moby Dick Samsung.

    Wasn't that all about the all-consuming desire for vengeance destroying the one that sought it?

    This will only hasten Apple's predictable decline, they've run out of things to innovate (like Dyson).

    The Apple watch - YAWN. The Apple belt-buckle. The Apple lawn-mower. The Apple skid proof underpants.

    The iPod is dead. The ipad / iphone are like remixing the SAME song ad infinitum, or listening to Status Quo.

    1. Jedit Silver badge
      Headmaster

      "Captain Ahab Apple still going after Moby Dick Samsung."

      Wouldn't Apple be Moby Dick? They want an arm and a leg from Samsung and so far have only got the leg [1], and of course their whales are available in white.

      Yeah, yeah, call me iShmael.

      [1] Though Samsung do still have a leg to stand on.

  7. Nick De Plume
    Happy

    wow. almost twenty minutes without a new patent suit

    The lawyers aren't working hard enough! I blame the good weather.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Before Apple unleashed their lawyers

    there was a reasonable chance that I might at some stage buy an Apple product, if it suited my needs.

    That is no longer the case.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Design Patents right? Didn't they Apple loose that battle in the UK or are these different round corners they are talking about??

    It seems like one step across the pond and you have the insane USPTO, yet our European patent office and judges are making sense... plus they are less likely to judge in favour of a US company over a Korean one!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The did indeed. The only territory in the world to find that way. Incidentally, that judge now works for Samesung. Make of that what you will.

      1. DRendar
        Trollface

        My goodness, will your total fucking bullshit never end?

        Sir Robin Jacob does not work for Samsung, he is acting as an expert witness. The only site that even makes a claim that he works for them is the Daily Fail. I'm guessing you're one of their readers. Or if you're American, a Fox News watcher.

        If I see a robbery and testify in court, am I working for the victim?

        Fuck off back to the bridge you crawled out from under.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

  10. nsld
    Paris Hilton

    When did Apple patent "being better than Apple"?

    Thanks to my work I have both a Galaxy S4 and an iPhone5.

    Its not even close the S4 is light years ahead of the iPhone5 unless being better than Apple has been patented!

    Paris, even she knows when to stop

    1. Bob Vistakin
      Pint

      Re: When did Apple patent "being better than Apple"?

      The S3 is a generation ahead of the iPhone5. The S4 is two.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Cars

    It's like Ford trying to sue every car manufacturer out of existence as they all have round wheels.

    I would have the tiniest sympathy for Apple if they'd INVENTED the stuff, but all they did was improve somebody else's idea. Well done for improving it, but you can't claim OWNERSHIP of it.

    They didn't invent the mobile phone. They didn't invent a touchscreen. They didn't invent a tablet computer - I have an advert from 1991 showing a tablet device. Get over yourselves Apple. You're actually coming across like a billion tons of sour grapes. This will put people off Apple who MAY have considered buying their products before. Apple - the company that thought it could do no wrong..... This is where their bubble burst.

  12. Piro Silver badge
    FAIL

    Oh, sod off, Apple

    Had enough of their shit. They didn't invent the phone, they didn't invent the touchscreen phone, they didn't invent virtual software stores, they didn't invent sliding bolts. They didn't even have the first 3G devices. They didn't invent rounded rectangles. Bouncy zoom? We're just applying some real life physics in the form elastic to the animation, not exactly ground breaking, I'm sure most games have effects that are more novel in that are simply written and nobody would think to patent them.

    Ugh. Shut up, Apple, you just look like a big, whiny baby. How about you spend that fat cash you've used on litigation on simply making a better product that people want, and let the people decide on the most desirable shiny devices.

    1. Jedit Silver badge
      Headmaster

      "How about you spend that fat cash on making a better product "

      Because their proprietary closed shop prevents it. As the outsiders with the unique product, their R&D team has to try and beat the combined resources of every other phone manufacturer all by itself. It's not reasonable to expect them to beat everyone, and so now the field has caught up Apple will never be top of the line again. Since the sole justification for their inflated prices is that iProducts are top of the line, if Apple want to keep their position as top dog they have no recourse except to litigate.

      1. Tom 13

        Re: "How about you spend that fat cash on making a better product "

        I disagree. Apple is free to license tech from any of the other companies, they just have to pay the patent tariff like everybody else. If their R&D department does come up with something new, they can keep it to themselves and make that their case for best of breed.

        Except all of that is based on the false assumption that Apple started by being the best of breed. Jobs never actually made money that way. He made money by being the coolest. The best example of that was the Mac vs. Windows guy commercials. The Mac dude was cool, the PC guy was a dweeb. The Mac dude always had a zippy zinger, the PC guy always fumbled his come back. Sure he let you believe the Mac was a technically superior product, but he never explicitly made that claim. He made other claims (mostly true) that cause you to think he made the argument that the product was technically superior, but not the actual technically superior claim. The problem at Apple is they have either forgotten that or never knew it, only Jobs did. And with him gone, so is their edge.

        1. John 104

          Re: "How about you spend that fat cash on making a better product "

          Only problem with the Mac PC commercials is that eventually it backfired and people started loving the goofy PC guy more than Justin Longs character. Snarkey cool dude only goes so far before it starts looking like smug cool dude, which no one cares for...

  13. FozzyBear

    Don't you just want to bitch slap apple

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No more than I want to bitch slap Samesung. Could happen to a more vile company.

      1. Piro Silver badge

        No idea who Samesung is. I guess it's a Chinese clone of Samsung?

        1. Intractable Potsherd

          An AC has posted twice with the same mis-spelling of Samsung. Likely to be the same one, first making unsupportable slurs against Professor Sir Robin Jacobs, and now referring to Samsung as "vile". S/he probably thinks it is funny - Same-sung, as in "the same as Apple". S/he probably also works for Apple ...

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            I don't work for Apple, I can assure you of that. I'm AC because it pisses you all off more. Samesung have been proven to use shills on the other hand. As for unsupportable claims:

            http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/14/samsung_boss_guilty_free/

            http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/07/samsung_heg_underage_workers/

            http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57559324/group-says-it-found-child-workers-at-samsung-supplier-factory/

            1. DRendar

              "I don't work for Apple, I can assure you of that. I'm AC because it pisses you all off more. Samesung have been proven to use shills on the other hand. As for unsupportable claims:

              http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/14/samsung_boss_guilty_free/

              http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/07/samsung_heg_underage_workers/

              http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57559324/group-says-it-found-child-workers-at-samsung-supplier-factory/"

              Yeah cos Apple have an absolutely stellar record of only buying components from suppliers who treat and pay their workers fairly, and none of their staff have ever, EVER taken part in illegal actions or untrustworthiness.

              Oh, Wait...

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                DRendar:

                Silly, silly little boy. Samesung's make any of Apple look positively saintly. You see, Apple have responded to their critics over working practices with positive action. Samesung made it "go away" and denies all knowledge. Apple have never been caught outright paying shills to astroturf on internet forums. I linked 3 recent stories. Instead of a cocky, but ultimately vacuous "Oh, wait...", how about doing the same? When you idiots finally wake up and smell the beans, you'll realise that Samesung have made utter mugs out of you. No matter what you think of Apple, Microsoft or any other business, none even come close to being as vile and underhand as Samesung.

  14. csumpi
    Megaphone

    Hey, Apple!

    Fuck you.

    Why not invent something? Oh, wait, you only copy shit. Whatever. Then copy shit.

    Your phones are years behind Samsung, you crappy wall of icons OS is years behind Android, so I can see how it would be obvious when you return to what you do best, copying.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Irony?

      "Why not invent something? Oh, wait, you only copy shit. Whatever. Then copy shit."

      That precisely what Samesung have been found guilty of time and time again.

      1. Intractable Potsherd

        Re: Irony?

        Third time - Apple troll is trolling.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Irony?

          Haven't you anything better to do? Does my opinion upset you that much that you feel the need to point it out with a cry of "Look Mummy! He's being mean about my Samesung..."? Tit.

  15. Steve Brooks

    Now that's interesting, seems the mix of apple defenders and attackers has markedly changed over the course of these patent cases, I only saw one defender here, and that looks like a poe. While Apple may win this case and the next, the one thing that any seller of mass market premium goods relies on is public opinion, thier billions may keep them going for a while, but unless they change something that pile is eventually going to get smaller instead of bigger.

    1. Tom 13

      @Steve Brooks

      Agreed.

      It's even more interesting that so many lawyers who formerly worked for SCO found work at Apple.

      (ok I don't know that they've actually moved there, but it sure seems like they're sporting the same 'tude.)

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Let the products do the talking...

    Not the lawyers.

    If Apple were truly an elightened, friendly organisation with a genuine desire to build innovative products which improved the quality of their users' lives, they would have the good grace to accept when theyve been bettered by their competitors, and would be spending their vast reserves of cash on R&D, not on lawyers.

    As it is, the tidal wave of bad feeling generated by this un ending series of petty, tit-for-tat legal cases is already having a detrimental impact on their share price and popularity and goes to show that even they realise that they are no longer the benchmark...

  17. mark l 2 Silver badge

    For some people no amount of bad press for Apple make a difference on whether they will continue to buy idevices.

    My girlfriend is determined she wants to get an iPhone even though i have pointed out that all the apps she wants to use are available on Android and she can get a nexus for a fraction of the cost of the iphone but its like talking to a brick wall when it comes to Apple fans.

    Apple may have not invented the smartphone but they are certainly the masters of getting cult like worship for their tech.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Headmaster

      Here's a though. Maybe, just maybe, she had a different opinion to you. Maybe, just maybe, all she hears is her nerdy boyf blathering on like a fanboy about *his* preferred platform, because that *exactly* what you sound like to me...

      1. Mark .

        Well it's a shame that you don't say that to the Apple users then - I've lost track of the number of them who'll go on about how "revolutionary" their Apple feature phone is, or how everyone should use MacProBooks because they do. They don't seem to get it that, maybe, the rest of us have different points of view, and maybe prefer to use something different.

        And I bet that everyone who buys a Nexus phone or tablet is aware of Apple's products, and has considered which to buy. Sadly the number of people who think the iphone or iphad is the only option seems quite high.

  18. g e
    Holmes

    Grizzly poop found in woods

    Apple still incapable of actually innovating.

    Defo getting that S4 at the end of the month now, I'll consider it my donation to the Samsung legal fund.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Grizzly poop found in woods

      As if Samesung are any fucking different!

      1. g e
        Holmes

        Re: Grizzly poop found in woods

        Well, if Samsung has a feature on a phone that Apple doesn't, you can't say they copied it.

        Only a cretin would support the nonsense rounded-corners-patent-themed bullshit, too, unless you truly think having something with pointy corners in your pocket is an obvious design choice.

        As always, the Apple Cultist is AC.

        No shit. Except for the Grizzly variety in a forest setting.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Grizzly poop found in woods

          Frankly, only a cretin would support Samsung in any endeavour.

          1. Roo
            IT Angle

            Re: Grizzly poop found in woods

            Cretins also overlook all that IP that Samsung has developed to enable them and their licensees to fabricate the displays, processors, flash memory and DRAM that Apple re-badges and markets as their own invention. Ironically Apple are one of the few outfits that could afford to build some fabs and license the necessary IP, they choose not to do this, preferring instead to litigate against their suppliers.

            If Apple were to start fabbing some display panels, or even a little bit of DRAM themselves I might give them some credit for effort on the IP front. Until that happy day they are no different from a bunch of lawyers paying a highly skilled competitor to put boxes together in the shape, material and finish they specify.

            That kind of stupidity is special enough that I will allow Apple some credit for a unique invention for it.

      2. Piro Silver badge

        Re: Grizzly poop found in woods

        Samesung?

        All these companies I never knew about. If it wasn't for comments sections, I'd never know that "M$" was a company, or "Micro$oft" either. Still can't find them registered anywhere. I guess there are some people out there who just have intimate knowledge of obscure businesses that sound like large corporations!

        1. Tom 13
          Devil

          @Piro

          It's "Micro$haft" not "Micro$oft"!

          If you're going to criticize these things, at least get the names right!

  19. Spud
    FAIL

    Another lost sale

    Recently I was going to buy a Mac ... then Apple got all childish and started suing world plus dog. I bought an Acer laptop instead.

    Recently I was going to upgrade my work phone to an IP5 .... then Apple got all childish and started suing world plus dog. I upgraded to an S4 instead.

    Recently I wanted a tablet for my kids ... looked at an iPad mini .... then Apple got all childish and started suing world plus dog ...... I bought a Galaxy Tab instead.

    So congratulations to Apple for driving my business away and good luck in trying to get it out of your competitors. I will never be buying an Apple product based on this type of behavior ...

    1. g e
      Go

      Re: Another lost sale

      My cousin, a dedicated appleist must-have type...

      Just bought a Samsung TV and an S4. He's left apple behind too, no prompting from me, either, came to his own purchasing conclusion completely under his own steam, he's seen my S3 but never played with it. In his own words 'The Samsung has so many features the iphone didn't have it's going to take a while to get used to it.'

      So there you have it, Samsung are copying the non-existent features as well as the existing ones, obviously.

      1. nsld
        Thumb Up

        Re: Another lost sale

        One of my clients was a high priest of Apple for years, he got fed up with the lack of development and cleaned out and went totally Samsung last year. I was really shocked but his rational was that he was left behind the curve by apples stagnation.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Another lost sale

      But child labour is OK? How about fraud? Election rigging? You'd rather not give money to a company that are using legitimate legal channels to deal with a serial plagiarist, but your morals aren't affected by supporting Samsung? Have a word with yourself.

      1. Spud
        Trollface

        Re: Another lost sale

        Are you suggesting we adopt a labelling scheme for electronics products, like "dolphin friendly" tuna, along the lines of "no child labour used to make this device" ? Would love the Apple one ... "no workers harmed themselves in the production of this device". (cue flames)

        The point of the post was that as a consumer I am allowed to make a free choice on what I buy (didn't buy a samsung laptop as I found the Acer better for the price) and I will make my choice based on features, price and what I, as a general consumer, think of a company. Apple have not won a friend here because the stories of there litigious approach has made it to the mainstream news and influenced my decision as a mainsteam consumer. Equally in future Samsung, Acer, HP, Lenovo, LG or anyone else could go down the same path and meet with the same response from the general consumer. People generally don't like being told what they can't buy.

        Btw ... in my opinion the iPhone lost its cool the moment granny got one. Just saying ......

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Another lost sale

          "Btw ... in my opinion the iPhone lost its cool the moment granny got one. Just saying ......"

          Wow. If you by *any* device because you think it'll make you cool, you are a special kind of sad...

          1. Spud

            Re: Another lost sale

            Nope ... I buy it based on the merits of the device ... things like performance, features and price .... I have never bought anything to be cool. This is why I currently don't own any Apple devices or walk around the shopping centre with a set of Beats by Dre headphones on. Try reading the comment in the way it was meant or is the observation of human behaviour completely lost to those who don't go out much ?

    3. Mark .

      Re: Another lost sale

      I must admit, I really wish there was an Apple product worth buying, so I could then not buy it to boycott them...

  20. Big_Boomer Silver badge
    Trollface

    Puppet time

    Jeff Dunham needs to get a new Puppet called Henry the Dead Lawyer.

    Catch phrase would of course be "......... I SUE YOU!"

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All these big companies engage in illicit behaviour, we all know this, so let's not get hysterical with the accusations of 'child labour', most of these guys use the same suppliers. And to be fair to Samsung it was Apple who started all this patent wars shite, not just against Samsung either, aren't they basically suing everyone, HTC, Nokia, etc?

    Tech companies copy each other all the time, it's only the select few that 'go nuclear' trying to protect a patent based on an idea that they stole from someone else anyway, these are the companies that generally earn the ire of people, ie, Microsoft and Apple.

    1. Intractable Potsherd

      As I've said before, some things, once brought to light, are just the best way to do things. If it is *the* best way then it is a discovery and not an invention, anyway. Other things become the de facto "right" way to do things (e.g. pedal arrangement in cars, and I still haven't found a reference to which was the first car to use clutch>brake>accelerator!) Once whatever it is has got to that point, there is no point whining about it - just accept you have given something great to the world. The final category of things is stuff like rounded corners - impossible to have unique use of, and therefore wrong to try to sequester.

      Samsung may or may not have the same corporate failings as any other big company, but they don't seem to be as pathetically rabid about wasting time and money on them, and so they are higher up the moral ladder than Apple in my opinion.

      1. thesykes

        first car...

        This was mentioned on Top Gear a couple of years ago. May and Clarkson were driving some of the oldest working cars, and one of them was the first British car with that arrangement. They also mentioned the name of the American car it was copied from. Can't remember the name of either.

        Stil, it may be on Youtube, or just watch Dave for a couple weeks, it's bound to be repeated at some point.

        1. Intractable Potsherd
          Thumb Up

          Re: first car...

          Thank you, thesykes. I'm sure I have it in a book somewhere but it is in storage, and the internet doesn't seem to give an answer to any of the ways I've phrased it. It isn't important - I just like to be able to back up these things.

  22. RichieB
    Facepalm

    But didn't HTC...

    My 1st 'smartphone' was an HTC blue angel, that was roughly rectangular in shape with rounded corners. Pretty sure my next phone was of a similar design & both were before the iPhone came out.

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