back to article Crummy Samsung gear no one wants, now no one can get – well done, Apple

A US district court has formally banned the sale of nine Samsung devices, found to have infringed on Apple's patents, in America. Judge Lucy Koh of the Northern California District San Jose court signed off on the long-sought Apple order [PDF] blocking the sale of Samsung devices released in 2011 and 2012. The full list of …

  1. djstardust

    Nobody wins

    Except the lawyers.

    Total BS of the highest order.

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      Don't forget that "consultant" who was paid $80,000 to appear in Court and state that she didn't see any difference between an iPhone and a Galaxy S II.

      I think we can safely say that, financially, she did pretty well out of the whole thing too.

      Reputation-wise, less so.

      1. Darryl

        Who cares about reputation. She's probably on retainer with Apple now

        1. Breen Whitman

          I cannot believe a woman would form on ongoing relationship just for money.

    2. mi1400

      Re: Nobody wins

      This is also very similar as U.S/U.K spent all the fortunes to dig the culprits of lockerbie from thin air while still criminally ignoring the cause of malaysian mh370. i.e. Primary Radar data both U.S and U.K not interested in letting to reach victims or their lawyers ... Anyway go sammy go! plz save us from the applish type few left over victorian monopolies...

      http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/MH17_relatives_demand_release_of_radar_images_999.html

  2. fnj

    Can't still buy it new, but still the best

    The Galaxy S II still stands as the best phone yet. Look up "Super AMOLED Plus" before you mock me. Plain AMOLED or Super AMOLED doesn't come close to Super AMOLED Plus, and TFT needn't even apply.

    Neither too small, nor too gigantic, makes a lot of others look ludicrously thick in comparison, the battery is easily changeable.

    It's still my phone, and I'll never upgrade until it breaks down.

    1. Timbo

      Re: Can't still buy it new, but still the best

      "It's still my phone, and I'll never upgrade until it breaks down."

      Ditto.....my only gripe about my S 11 is that it works so well that I'm scared of bricking it, by getting it rooted and updated with a more recent version of Android or one of the other versions (eg: CyanogenMod).

      But the good news is that you can pick up "looked after" s/h S 11's for not a lot...I got a 16Mb in White for £35 so, I have a spare "just in case" (and I back up my usual phone so I can restore onto the spare if I need to).

      1. Green Nigel 42

        Re: Can't still buy it new, but still the best

        Likewise with my venerable Note 2, which has also been given the seal of approval by Apple!

        Still fit for the purpose I purchased it for 4 years ago and has the benefit of sd slot & easy replacement/swappable battery that Samsung' s latest fail to include. ( must admit its still on its original battery that now only manages 10 hours but still chuffed as chips with it!)

        1. Jimbo in Thailand

          Re: Can't still buy it new, but still the best

          You beat me to it Green Nigel 42. The Note 2 continues to be a great phone. I've just - finally - updated it to Samsung's official KitKat 4.4.2 version to get the screen mirroring functionality. Sadly, 4.4.2, while a bit more speedy than Jelly Bean, is pretty buggy and, also sadly, it's the last official version available for the Note 2. Still, the Note 2 does so many things so well I'm not ready to upgrade to anything yet.

    2. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

      Re: Can't still buy it new, but still the best

      All AMOLED displays I've seen so far have looked rediculously oversaturated.

      I'd take a good IPS LCD any day. Perhaps the Super Plus version is less silly?

    3. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: Can't still buy it new, but still the best

      Have an upvote

      I'm running the S2 as well.... mine has a slightly dodgy battery that lies about how much charge it has, but otherwise works fine and the little door on the charger port.. stops all the little metal nasties I work with from getting in and shorting out the charger when its plugged in.... unlike apples offerings

  3. Mark Allen

    What about the second hand market?

    Does this also ban second hand sales of these old Samsung phones?

    1. Mage Silver badge

      Re: What about the second hand market?

      It's only about new retail. Because the Second Hand phones don't use any special consumable.

      People are STILL selling S/H Kodak instant cameras. Kodak had to withdraw them worldwide as they violated a REAL Polariod Instant photo patent. ... hmm better check.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_camera#Types_of_non-Polaroid_instant_cameras

      After Land's instant camera invention was brought to market in 1948, a few different instant cameras were developed, some using Polaroid-compatible film such as cameras by Keystone, Konica, and Minolta. Others were incompatible with Polaroid cameras and film, the most notable of these being made by Kodak, such as the EK series and Kodamatic cameras. These cameras accepted a Kodak developed integral instant film, similar to Polaroid's SX-70 film. Kodak instant film was chemically similar to Polaroid with the exception that the negative was exposed from the rear and the dye/developers diffused to the front of the photogragh. This alleviated the need for a mirror to reverse the image before it struck the negative.

      Even so, Polaroid brought a patent-infringement lawsuit against Kodak, and eventually Kodak was forced to stop manufacture of both the camera and film. [4] Kodak was also left to pay a settlement to customers who were left without a way to use their now defunct cameras. One settlement offered owners of Kodak instant cameras a credit towards a new Kodak camera. Many Kodak instant cameras still exist and can be found on auction sites. Kodak also lost the contract to manufacture Polaroid's negatives which subsequently took production in house.

  4. Vector
    Headmaster

    FTFY

    "Though the victory is seen as largely symbolic pyrrhic..."

  5. cbars Bronze badge

    ugh

    Someone should take the lawyers for a drive and round off their corners by hanging them out of the door.

    (I mean, not really, but these design patents are pretty ridiculous, and this is the internet - so I've got to blame someone!)

  6. W Donelson

    Just think, someday the law will fun just as fast as computers....

    ... .and then we will be really f'cked.

    1. Haku

      Re: Just think, someday the law will fun just as fast as computers....

      "someday" was supposed to be last year according to a certain film, but that film isn't as prophetic as many had hoped.

      Still no bloody flying cars, and the sad excuse 'hoverboards' aren't legal to use on the streets/pavements.

      Anyway I'm really looking forward to next year's highest rated tv show in history...

      1. VinceH
        Trollface

        Re: Just think, someday the law will fun just as fast as computers....

        I'm just looking forward to the United States sealing off its borders.

      2. P. Lee

        Re: Just think, someday the law will fun just as fast as computers....

        >Anyway I'm really looking forward to next year's highest rated tv show in history...

        Also, Cherry 2000 will be available. A fine invention despite not really living up to its vendors' claims.

  7. Mage Silver badge

    Iniquity

    a) It's registered Design, not true patents.

    b) None ought to have been allowed.

    c) Even most of Apple's "real" patents are junk.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How anyone could have granted these 'patents' in the first place is beyond belief. Are bribes responsible? Does anyone actually look at these before being approved?

    1. just_me
      Facepalm

      5,946,647 - Regular Expressions anybody?

      It looks like in patent 5,946,647, that Apple took upon itself to patent acting on pattern matches of Regular Expressions.. like the regular expression for Phone numbers in free-text.. What the ...!!!! There is quite a bit of prior art.

      It also looks like Microsoft's Intellisense may also be prior art - initial work was 1988 in Columbia. There is even prior art on data structure extraction dating several decades earlier.

  9. Bloodbeastterror

    Apple...

    ... too much money and a bad attitude.

    1. The First Dave

      Samsung

      ... too much money and a bad attitude.

    2. Lamont Cranston

      Patent lawyers...

      ... too much money and a bad attitude.

      1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

        Commentards...

        Well, we have the bad attitude, anyway.

  10. This post has been deleted by its author

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