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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Last week, we noted that a Dutch court was weighing an infringement claim by Apple against Samsung over the Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets, with Apple requesting a complete ban on the sale of Samsungs products in the European Union. A decision in that case was to be handed down on September 15th.

FOSS Patents and Tweakers.net [Google translation] now report that the case has been decided ahead of that timeline, with the judge ordering that Samsung's subsidiaries be banned from selling Galaxy smartphones (but not tablets) in many European Union countries as of October 13th. The ban applies to the Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, and Ace phones.

apple_photo_swipe_patent.jpg



Figures from Apple's photo-swiping patent judged infringed upon by Samsung
The judge's decision was relatively narrow compared to the claims brought by Apple, which included a number of assertions that Samsung had copied Apple's product designs and functionality. The judge rejected most of those claims, finding only that Samsung had violated an Apple patent related to using swiping gestures to switch between photos in a gallery application. The ban will apply in any country where that specific patent is valid, although documentation suggests that the patent has lapsed in a number of countries due to a failure by Apple to provide necessary documents or fees.

Article Link: Ban on Sale of Samsung Galaxy Smartphones in EU Set for October 13th
 

aeror

macrumors newbie
Aug 4, 2009
7
0
I didn't even know we had these patents in Europe, but now I'm against them.
 

whooleytoo

macrumors 604
Aug 2, 2002
6,607
716
Cork, Ireland.
Samsung swiped the swipe? :p

1 vote here for the "Surely that's too obvious to patent, that's just a design decision not an innovation" side.
 

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
Ok.

Looks like it's time for Samsung to up their game.

EDIT:

That's right, vote this comment down. The stark (and uncomfortable) reality is that Apple's case actually has merit.
 

freemini

macrumors regular
Aug 29, 2009
181
6
Norway
Come on.. Wtf is going on here. Anyone know if this applies to Norway? I searched NO and Norway on that page and it isn't there. That means it will continue to sell here right?
 

dethmaShine

macrumors 68000
Apr 13, 2010
1,697
0
Into the lungs of Hell
Please no more patent wars!

Typing this from a phone so please avoid any grammatical mistakes.

As I understand, Apple was trying to be a bitch when they sued Motorola for xoom. But all in all Samsung deserves to go down in this case. Not sure about the tab, but even that mimics the design and functionality of the ipad but that to me is mostly acceptable; may be not to Apple.

Samsung galaxy devices look very similar to the present and past iPhones. My cousin got a galaxy ace and truly, he himself claims it yo be an iPhone4 ripoff.

I am sad that the decision was based on a stupid patent rather than other design based claims by Apple
Now the trolls can queue and start calling people fanboys for defending Apple.
 

koobcamuk

macrumors 68040
Oct 23, 2006
3,195
9
This is pretty petty actually. Shame on Samsung for not inventing their own photo-scroll technique.

Black market imports for Galaxy SII then.
 

cotak

macrumors regular
Feb 24, 2011
224
0
Next in the news, iphone and ipad shortage due to "production issues" at samsung's chip fabs.
 

AAPLDroid

macrumors newbie
Aug 24, 2011
23
0
Hmmm I think most people foresaw Apple's original claims regarding design and style theft be thrown out.

A software update rectifying the Gallery issue would probably be sufficient to reverse the ban.
 

Xil3

macrumors regular
Oct 4, 2007
182
79
London
Yeah, it's pretty pathetic that they're doing this. This is not good at all for the consumers - I actually wanted to buy a Galaxy S2.

This is totally anti-competitive behavior. I love your products Apple, but I'm really starting to hate you as a company.
 

Yvan256

macrumors 603
Jul 5, 2004
5,080
991
Canada
The problem is the whole patents system. They grant patents on trivial things. This is the root of the problem.

They basically have a patent on natural moves (i.e. that's how you turn pages with a physical book) that should not have been granted in the first place.

This is as stupid as patenting that when I move my mouse left, the cursor on my screen goes to the left. :rolleyes:

Imagine having to know that when I'm on an Apple device, moving the mouse to the left moves the cursor to the left, but on Windows moving the mouse to the left moves the cursor to the top, etc. That is what's going to happen with all those patent wars. Different interfaces depending on which company made it. It's insane.

But right now, like it or not, there is a patent system. So if I were Apple, I'd patent all the "touch" moves so that nobody else can lock them away and then give free licenses to anyone who asks. No fees or minimum requirements, as long as you make the standard moves work in the way people would expect them to work.

That's how standards are made.
 

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
The solution for Apple's rivals (like Samsung) is to step up their game drastically. To shake up the industry. The old ways won't cut it anymore. Derivative devices just aren't enough because innovators like Apple *will* attempt to exercise their IP rights against those who are unable to differentiate themselves or who don't have strong first-mover status will suffer.

Samsung and everyone else had their chance to pull off a June 2007 or a January 2010 (why can't they do something similar? Why always Apple?) But the brand name attached to the iPhone and iPad is Apple, not Samsung.
 

kalsta

macrumors 68000
May 17, 2010
1,675
548
Australia
Should we be concerned by this guy's photo library? If I'm not mistaken, we have a photo of two people strapped to the ground in the first photo, and an oncoming train in the second.

Well, creepy patent pics aside, I have to say this is getting pretty silly. How different is swiping left and right to scrolling up and down? Enough to award a patent and ban the sale of phones? Seriously??
 

Kinsella217

macrumors newbie
Jul 16, 2002
23
0
Patent Wars

I'm not certain that I understand the objection to protecting one's patents. If you invent something, whether or not everything thinks that it's great and, in hindsight, obvious, why should you not have the opportunity to get credit, income, and rights to your work?

If every invention and concept becomes eminent public domain, what incentive does anyone have to invent anything in a capitalist market economy? If Apple invents an iPad and then everyone hops onboard it's knockoff clone Andriod products and, by doing so, these clone companies devalue the iPad and it's creation, what incentive does Apple have, to pour money into whatever will replace the concept of the iPad? If what you want is an iPad, give your money to Apple who invented it. Not to the companies that have nakedly cloned it.

Furthermore, why wasn't this a problem with the iPod? Different companies came up with different competitive designs and had an equal opportunity to compete with Apple's innovative music and media device.

While there devices that resembled the iPod more closely than others, it would not be credible to claim that anyone copied the iPod as closely as the Galaxy-Andriod tablets infringe on Apple's iPad.

I support Apple's rights to protect their invention and the rewards reaped through their innovation.
 

whooleytoo

macrumors 604
Aug 2, 2002
6,607
716
Cork, Ireland.
Hmmm I think most people foresaw Apple's original claims regarding design and style theft be thrown out.

A software update rectifying the Gallery issue would probably be sufficient to reverse the ban.

Maybe, but I think it's a bad thing. Consistency across OSs is a good thing; for many of us who use Windows and OSX you find lots of similarities in the design and usage of the UI. It helps the user a lot that scroll bars are always at the right and bottom, drag bars at the top of windows, the cut/copy/past keystrokes are similar etc. Likewise with mobile OSs.

If Apple says "No, you can't do anything the same way we do" it'll be a pain for users, more than for Samsung.
 

gpat

macrumors 68000
Mar 1, 2011
1,865
4,975
Italy
I agree with the decision.

The tablets are not copied from the iPad, but phones like the Galaxy S and the Galaxy Ace are insulting to Apple. I would be ashamed to use an Ace in public, because it's so blatantly copied from Apple. The photo scrolling patent may be too little to block shipments of the products, but Samsung got what it deserved IMHO.
 
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