Apple Claims Samsung Knew Darn Well They Were Copycats
Apple plans to hit Samsung where it hurts in court next week: Right in the stuff they said. Not only did Samsung expressly state their intention to copy bits from the iPad and iPhone in their products, says Apple, they were also warned against doing so by a number of designers as well as Google. When Google shows up and tells you to consider redesigning your product, you should probably consider redesigning your product.
If you haven’t been keeping up with the lawsuit against Samsung by Apple, here’s a tweet-sized summary of what’s happened so far:
2011: Apple sues Samsung for making their products look like iPods. Samsung says they didn’t. Turns into 50 suits in 10 countries. #Really?
Yesterday, both companies filed briefs detailing their patent claims and legal artillery shells they have pointed at each other. Apple’s brief claims that Samsung discussed the similarities between the Galaxy 10.1 and the iPad and, therefore, had full knowledge they were making an iPad clone. The brief also states that Samsung received a number of warnings that their tablets and phones were too similar to Apple products. AllThingsD helpfully offers a few bits pulled from Apple’s brief:
In February 2010, Google told Samsung that Samsung’s “P1” and “P3” tablets (Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Tab 10.1) were “too similar” to the iPad and demanded “distinguishable design vis-à-vis the iPad for the P3.” In 2011, Samsung’s own Product Design Group noted that it is “regrettable” that the Galaxy S “looks similar” to older iPhone models. As part of a formal, Samsung-sponsored evaluation, famous designers warned Samsung that the Galaxy S “looked like it copied the iPhone too much,” and that “innovation is needed.” The designers explained that the appearance of the Galaxy S “[c]losely resembles the iPhone shape so as to have no distinguishable elements,” and “[a]ll you have to do is cover up the Samsung logo and it’s difficult to find anything different from the iPhone.”
There’s no denying that the two products have a great deal in common. Samsung’s own lawyers couldn’t even tell them apart at a distance of 10 feet. Despite all this, Samsung has a few tricks up its sleeve, including a few emails with evidence that Apple copied their competitor Sony’s designs in their designs of the iPhone. This seems to me like less of a defense for Samsung and more of a “But they started it!”
All of these lawsuits seem to me like the bickering of a pair of second graders. What this case really needs is my elementary school teacher, Sister Theresa. She would shuffle up with her orthopedic shoes and her vaguely Irish accent and say, “I’ve had about enough out of you two! Samsung, it was wrong of you to copy Apple’s work. As for you, Apple, no one likes a tattletale. I want you both to apologize and shake hands. Go on!”
She would probably have made them say a few rosaries too, just for good measure. We’ll have to see how this all turns out in court next week. The trial kicks off Monday, when the court picks out the jury.
(via All Things D)
- How all this craziness kicked off
- U.K. court makes Apple publish a statement that Samsung didn’t rip them off
- Apple wins preliminary injunction
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