http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18605456

Apple have obviously never heard of the phrase,

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Is the Samsung product substantially different from other high-end Android tablets?

Who will win the court case?

Are Apple still going in for this sort of idiocy?

There's nothing about the Galaxy tab that makes it any more or less like the iPad, than any other tablet.
They are all tablet shaped.....and that's it.

I think it is the old, now obsolete Galaxy Tab.
I think the newer ones use a different swipe system.

"lthough Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products," said US District Judge Lucy Koh."

Though that infers something very different.

Whilst, you, I or others may hate the idea of patents... if a court actually agrees with the patent then surely it was something that could be protected.

It's not up to us to decide if something is copied but the court.

Interestingly as part of this the Judge held up an iPad and Galaxy Tab and Samsung's counsel couldn't distinguish those products when Judge Koh showed them in the courtroom at a limited distance.

If that's the case then surely there is more than enough weight to the design patent being valid?

IMO, No. You can't tell 2 plasma TV's apart can you?

If Apple made a car they would take ford, vauxhall, fiat ..... to court for copyright infringement
Likewise if they made beer they would do the same to all the brewers.

Its a tablet they are all bound to look more or less alike get a life Apple

Apple's patents are ridiculously vague so they can do things like this to stifle competition. It is a perfect example of the need for patent reform.

That's not what the action is solely about.

You can also say the same thing about all the companies suing Apple for similar reasons. They ALL do it to each other, not just Apple having a go at everyone else.

yes the vague patents allowed by the US patent system are being exploited not just by Apple but others ... Samsung have said:

so could they end up damaging sales potential of all tablets? + of course ipad and galaxy tab are even different shapes so can't be copies of each other

Now the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has been banned....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18656402

They mainly look alike because companies insist on making best use of screen space with square icons and using a black background so as not to sap energy.

It is that very same Judge Lucy Koh who effectively said that the old "rectangular Tab and the squarer iPad are virtually indistinguishable so I'll ban it".

According to her Wiki her job prior to being a judge was in representing technology companies in litigation.
She is sort of still doing.

What is also interesting is that currently, the big pro Apple judgements are all taking place in California, Cupertino land.

"“universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system.""

Seems that's the patent in question this time.
Is that where you can click a phone number in text and hyperlink to a phone call?

Is that a major feature?

It can apply to alot of things. Smart money is on the voice action to retrieve information. It makes Siri look like old technology.

Not really, as there would be prior examples. If Apple developed a totally new engine that (for example) ran on water then they'd be able to sue if other companies made versions "inspired by" that.

TBH I think the whole patent thing is silly, but it's all of the tech companies doing it. There is a big difference I think between copying and stifling competition and I wonder do the current patent wars do the latter...

It's been going on for long enough. There are so many products on the market nowadays that of course they're going to look similar. Rather than Apple taking everyone to court they should try making their product look and run even better on the inside - even if others look similar on the outside.

Apple are a disgrace. There's a difference between trying to protect IP and just plain bullying tactics, and they are certainly guilty of the latter...

Unfortunately, no amount of suing is going to hinder the rate at which they are losing market share. They should put the money from all their lawsuits into actually developing a technically impressive product.

If BMW and Mercedes Benz had sued every time a Japanese or Korean car manufacturer blatantly copied their designs the courts would need revolving doors.

The patent system is a mess. I've just read Steve Job's Bio and it was Apple vs IBM and now it's the other way around with Apple restricting other OEM's on their products and services. Remember in 2007 Job's said Multi-Touch was patented by Apple and now look at the market. Plus Apple have just passed the MacBook Air clamshell design which was extremely vague and will be used as a potential weapon vs. Ultrabooks.

I wonder when we'll see a Smart Keyboard cover for the iPad and Microsoft come calling - if it's patented!

Although of course all tech companies have been engaging in lawsuits recently, Apple have always been litigious from their early days.

They've sued everyone from people making products that allowed MacOS to run on an Amiga to Mac rumour sites.

When you are sitting on as much cash as they are, you can afford to stifle competition through lawsuits. By the time the issue is sorted out, tech has moved on so even if you lose you've accomplished your goal of preventing the other company from competing with your product at the time, for a few millions of dollars of 'spare change'.

Apple's OS was not licensed to work on competing products so them suing for that was reasonable, as is suing sites for misinformation, something any responsible company does.

Samsung's copying of Apple's products stands out when you consider that Samsung is pretty good at not doing that in a market they dominate in, TVs. It's an act of desperation which to me doesn't make much sense as they are cable of designing good products, just as long as they hire someone else when it comes to the software. I've owned three Samsung Blu-Ray players that have never worked properly after a ridiculous number of firmware updates. Great picture quality though, that is, when they ran/run.

Where are they losing market share? They earned $11.6 billion last quarter.


They obviously have plenty of money to protect their patents and to design new products, whether you agree with the patents or not.

A lot of people say that, that is until they own their own business.

Apples long established taste for litigation used to be based around their need (probably Steve jobs directly) to establish complete control over their system. They couldn't even tolerate people speculating about new products and unleased the lawyers.

Now it appears that they've decided to deploy their built up expertise in going to the courts along with a large pile of cash in order to stymie competition. Very sad. Also sad to see that they still have their army of dedicated fanboys.

So this injunction is for Androids search function - Apple's US Patent 8086604: Universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system

Essentially, Spotlight is Apple's invention. It is patented. Apple allege that the search interface on the Nexus violates the patent. And apparently, a judge agrees. This is a hugely vague patent and just shows the complications in the industry in the US.

If Google, Samsung or anyone else were in Apple's shoes I'm sure they would do the same.

Where is Apple losing market share?

Apple's tablet market share went up in the last quarter.

Apple's smartphone market share went up in the last quarter.


I do agree that the patent suits are ridiculous, though. They should *all* stop it and let consumers decide, not judges and lawyers.