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Apple Now Suing Samsung over Tablet and Phone Case Designs [Updated]

zync said:
I want to make something clear to those who think that defending IP is akin to not being able to innovate. Don't bother responding to this, I'm not subscribing to this thread to waste more time arguing. I just want to make my point. If you like it, fine.

Also, bear in mind that I'm not talking about this specific case, but in general.

For one thing, it's unethical to basically steal someone's idea and sell it. Aside from that, suing to protect your IP is NOT anti-innovation. It's PRO-innovation. Why? If you don't sue to protect IP, you allow a competitor to basically make almost the exact thing that you made. What is innovative about that? By suing them you force them to change their product—to make something different. And that's what they should have done in the first place. That's upholding innovation. If you can't create something better, you copy what you see. That's not innovation. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded.

I don't know where many people on here have the opinion that IP and ethics don't matter. Yes, there's something to be said about just making something new and better as a response to a copycat. But that new thing will just get copied too. In the end, there's only innovation from one company and not the entire market, which is not how it's supposed to work.
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There is one problem with your point. And it's a big one. So far Apple basically lost all their lawsuits. Most their patents used in the lawsuits have been invalidated. Compare this to the cases that they lost (to Nokia - settlement by paying tons of money and Motorola). And now we learn that they started using patent trolls (Digitude) for doing their dirty business. Also, being a patent midget that Apple is, they do sue too much.
 
lilo777 said:
There is one problem with your point. And it's a big one. So far Apple basically lost all their lawsuits. Most their patents used in the lawsuits have been invalidated. Compare this to the cases that they lost (to Nokia - settlement by paying tons of money and Motorola). And now we learn that they started using patent trolls (Digitude) for doing their dirty business. Also, being a patent midget that Apple is, they do sue too much.
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"Basically lost." As differentiated from "actually lost."

And "most of their patents" meaning "some of their patents".

And "cases that they lost" meaning "cases that they settled."

:D
 
BaldiMac said:
"Basically lost." As differentiated from "actually lost."

And "most of their patents" meaning "some of their patents".

And "cases that they lost" meaning "cases that they settled."

:D
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Let's see.

Suing Samsung in Netherlands - Apple's claim rejected by court (actually lost)
Suing Samsung in Australia - Apple's claim rejected by court (actually lost)
Suing Samsung in Germany - the lawsuit is not over yet. There was a preliminary injunction on a narrow claim which Samsung decided to bypass by slightly changing Galaxy Tab design. Basically lost. Will actually lose in a few months.
Suing HTC in US - court rejects Apple's claim for all but one simple patent (for automatic generation of hyper links). HTC already updated its phones to resolve the issue. Basically lost on the surface. In reality Apple actually lost because it ran out of rejection of their patent claims.

When company "settles" lawsuit by paying hundreds of millions of dollars, it's the same as "lost". Anybody can "not lose" by paying huge amount of money. Besides Motorola's did actually win their lawsuit against Apple in Germany and Apple devices were banned there.

You can spin it all you want but the matter of fact is that so far the only Apple patent claim that has not been thrown out is the patent on auto generation of hyper links which is absolutely ridiculous and the patent most likely will be invalidated when it gets reviewed by a court.
 
lilo777 said:
Let's see.

Suing Samsung in Netherlands - Apple's claim rejected by court (actually lost)
Suing Samsung in Australia - Apple's claim rejected by court (actually lost)
Suing Samsung in Germany - the lawsuit is not over yet. There was a preliminary injunction on a narrow claim which Samsung decided to bypass by slightly changing Galaxy Tab design. Basically lost. Will actually lose in a few months.
Suing HTC in US - court rejects Apple's claim for all but one simple patent (for automatic generation of hyper links). HTC already updated its phones to resolve the issue. Basically lost on the surface. In reality Apple actually lost because it ran out of rejection of their patent claims.
Click to expand...

All of those are rulings on preliminary injunctions. They lawsuits have not been decided. Most of them haven't even gone to trial.

When company "settles" lawsuit by paying hundreds of millions of dollars, it's the same as "lost". Anybody can "not lose" by paying huge amount of money. Besides Motorola's did actually win their lawsuit against Apple in Germany and Apple devices were banned there.
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It's not losing if you end up paying less than you were initially asked to pay. Nokia wasn't about whether or not Apple had to pay license fees, it was about how much they had to pay. They settled.
 
chagla said:
looks like apple lawyers are back from vacation.
new year, new lawsuits. wuhu..

Apple Files Design Suit in Germany Seeking to Ban 10 Samsung Smartphones

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...it-against-ten-samsung-smartphone-models.html
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Yawn :rolleyes:

And the pointless bickering just has no end in sight! These products will be dead and buried long before any courtroom battle. Every bloody phone on the market includes ideas from competitors, and Yes that does include the iPhones.
 
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