Samsung and Apple Settle Long-Running Design Patent Dispute

[FFR]

i don't think you read the article... you would of saw the picture of the iphone prototype with the word SONY right on it.
https://s4827.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/iPhone-Sony-2.jpeg

[doublepost=1530165898][/doublepost]Apple industrial designer Shin Nishibori was directed to prepare a “Sony-like” design for an Apple phone and then had CAD drawings and a three-dimensional model prepared. Confirming the origin of the design, these internal Apple CAD drawings prepared at Mr. Nishibori‘s direction even had the “Sony” name prominently emblazoned on the phone design

So that is an Apple designed product.

Where have they copied Sony???

 

[PickUrPoison]

apple copied sony. then samsung copied apple. almost all apples designs are ripoffs of sony products.
https://www.mactrast.com/2012/07/samsung-apples-iphone-is-a-sony-design-ripoff/

1) You say “almost all apples designs are ripoffs of sony products”. That sounds like something you just made up. Right?

2) The article you link says the opposite of what you’re saying. Quoting from the article you link above, referring to Samsung’s claim that Apple ripped off a Sony design:

Yes, it’s a bit odd that Apple included Sony’s brand name on one of their internal mockups. But it’s an outrageous leap to move straight from that into a claim that Apple wrongfully ripped off Sony’s designs in any meaningful sense.

Laughable, Samsung. Laughable.

The mock-up you show is an Apple design, not an actual Sony product.

 

[justperry]

What? Why? Why wouldn't you want the most out of what's available? There's no need for an SSD vs a spinning hard drive, but it's pretty nice. Odd.

What can you do with a 500 Mb/s connection on a phone, completely nothing, in a house it's could be needed if there are many devices on the same connection.
There is a hotspot on the iPhone but it's not much used and when it is only for a single connection, more just doesn't work, battery will drain-iPhone gets hot-connection not stable.

Your SSD vs HD comparison is way different and makes a hell of a deference, this does not.

 

[applesaucePro]

The mock-up you show is an Apple design, not an actual Sony product.

bingo. its an iphone prototype, using the same exact same design language as existing sony products, with the sony label still on it and everything. a blatant and outright theft of the design. but that's just my opinion.

 

[PickUrPoison]

apple copied sony. then samsung copied apple. almost all apples designs are ripoffs of sony products.
https://www.mactrast.com/2012/07/samsung-apples-iphone-is-a-sony-design-ripoff/

You need to back up or withdraw the claim that “almost all apples designs are ripoffs of sony products”. You haven’t said which Sony product you think the iPhone ripped off, either.

 

[applesaucePro]

You need to back up or withdraw the claim that “almost all apples designs are ripoffs of sony products”. You haven’t said which Sony product you think the iPhone ripped off, either.

google it if you care, i know you don't accept it. i'm not going to research it out and hand feed it to you. you'll just throw a tantrum and say its not true anyhow. if that's your opinion you are welcome to it.

 

[PickUrPoison]

google it if you care, i know you don't accept it. i'm not going to research it out and hand feed it to you. you'll just throw a tantrum and say its not true anyhow. if that's your opinion you are welcome to it.

No problem, people make stuff up all the time and try to pass it off as fact. It is the internet, after all.

Don’t be surprised when you get called on it though.

 

[applesaucePro]

feel free to read all the testimony and evidence of the case, then go and find secondary sources of information related to the case, now write a 20 page research paper on it. because that's what i did, and i got an A. yay.

after that, i think you will be very well informed and all these questions you have will be answered. don't expect me to do your homework for you. lazy! google it up.

but making a quick opinion based on your feelings is fine too, it's easier. go for it.

 

[pppx3]

Whilst this won't stop Samsung doing what they do, it's not even about the money... it's about sending a message to the other copy cats.

Don't do it.

Steve Jobs was VERY careful when designing this product platform.
Why? Because he was not so careful with the Mac OS and well, we all know how that turned out.

One could argue for days on end about who designed what and who copied who, but at the end of the day, Apple took the first step, took the risks and the success is what made Samsung follow.

We've seen both Microsoft and Samsung copy Apple in not only product, but the way it's sold via specialised stores and it's pretty obvious that they have copied many of Apple's approach to creating, selling and presenting the product to the public. I appreciate the competition, I do. It pushes Apple. However, take a look at Samsung's and Microsoft's stores, websites and products pre "apple store" and post "apple store"... carbon copies.

A lot of people mock Apple for not innovating any more and the competition is looking better in many respects... but the fact is, Apple's competitors should thank Apple for bringing an interest to in industry that would have been comfortable staying in the desktop and with horrible UI...

Companies like MS and Samsung should show respect to Apple in some ways, rather than mock them or copy them, but by the same token, Apple should take note of the competition and pull out some aces up their sleeves... it's way overdue.

 

[theluggage]

I'm sorry, but Mexico and Korea made it happen.

Why are we going off-topic and discussing a stupid game with illogical rules played by over-paid louts in this thread about... oh, wait - sorry, carry on!
[doublepost=1530184292][/doublepost]

don't think you read the article... you would of saw the picture of the iphone prototype with the word SONY right on it.

Where have they copied Sony???

Well, the big honking "SONY" logo is a bit of a give away. The diagonal buttons are very reminiscent of a 1980s Walkman II (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkman#/media/File:Sony_Walkman_WM-2.jpg) but then so are the buttons on a Nintendo Game Boy. The "crown" arrangement on the side looks familiar from somewhere, too.

I'm vaguely surprised that Apple - no stranger to massive IP lawsuits - allowed a drawing to be made including a Sony logo, but ultimately its pretty irrelevant because none of those Sony-like features ever made their way into an actual product.

In the case of the Samsung Galaxy, features like rounded corners, chromed bezel, shiny-effect icons, large central home button, white-on-green phone icon, etc. don't signify much if you take each one in isolation, but taken together you have to be pretty deep in denial not to see that it was inspired by the iPhone. You can pick out these individual elements on a range of earlier phones, personal organisers and Star Trek/2001 props, but it was the Galaxy that stood out as having a full house.

The picture in the article, of course, is of the "App Drawer" screen, not the home screen which looks far less iPhone like - but this is also the picture that I clearly recall seeing most frequently in ads and publicity for the Galaxy when it was new - if they were trying to sell it on its own merits, you'd think they'd show the Android home screen, with its customisable short-cuts and widgets, something that the iPhone lacked at that time.

Unless you're a lawyer on Apple or Samsung's payroll, the real question is, not did Samsung copy the iPhone (spoiler: yes) but did the aspects they copied actually deserve legal protection?

 

[ivanhoe888]

I wonder how much the total bills for the lawyers came out..

 

[convergent]

Samsung's email utility in their Galaxy devices is a rip-off of Microsoft Outlook since the different ways of sorting function exactly like Microsoft Outlook. For example I can sort emails alphabetically by sender or subject in both Samgsung Galaxy and Microsoft Outlook.

I hope you are being sarcastic.. you are using "sort by sender" or "sort by subject" as evidence of them copying a mail app? Seriously? I'm pretty sure most email clients let you sort by the fields. You probably believed that a curved rectangle was a rip off too, right?

 

[TroyBoy30]

that 500 something million probably didn't even cover the legal fees

 

[FFR]

Why are we going off-topic and discussing a stupid game with illogical rules played by over-paid louts in this thread about... oh, wait - sorry, carry on!
[doublepost=1530184292][/doublepost]


Well, the big honking "SONY" logo is a bit of a give away. The diagonal buttons are very reminiscent of a 1980s Walkman II (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkman#/media/File:Sony_Walkman_WM-2.jpg) but then so are the buttons on a Nintendo Game Boy. The "crown" arrangement on the side looks familiar from somewhere, too.

I'm vaguely surprised that Apple - no stranger to massive IP lawsuits - allowed a drawing to be made including a Sony logo, but ultimately its pretty irrelevant because none of those Sony-like features ever made their way into an actual product.

In the case of the Samsung Galaxy, features like rounded corners, chromed bezel, shiny-effect icons, large central home button, white-on-green phone icon, etc. don't signify much if you take each one in isolation, but taken together you have to be pretty deep in denial not to see that it was inspired by the iPhone. You can pick out these individual elements on a range of earlier phones, personal organisers and Star Trek/2001 props, but it was the Galaxy that stood out as having a full house.

The picture in the article, of course, is of the "App Drawer" screen, not the home screen which looks far less iPhone like - but this is also the picture that I clearly recall seeing most frequently in ads and publicity for the Galaxy when it was new - if they were trying to sell it on its own merits, you'd think they'd show the Android home screen, with its customisable short-cuts and widgets, something that the iPhone lacked at that time.

Unless you're a lawyer on Apple or Samsung's payroll, the real question is, not did Samsung copy the iPhone (spoiler: yes) but did the aspects they copied actually deserve legal protection?

Hahaha.

So they never copied Sony.

By the way, by crown you mean jog dial.
Lol crown.

 

[FrenchRoasted]

Did you catch this little gem?

Samsung has vehemently argued that it should have to pay damages only for the portion of the iPhone's design that it copied, while Apple has continually asked for a payment based on the full value of the iPhone.

Except when Qualcom applies this to modem components...

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

Samsung are a bunch of crooks that should have gone to jail and had their assets in the US seized.

 

[techwhiz]

Yes they were paid, the stock option was what they negotiated for and what they got. That million dollars worth of stock would be worth over a billion today, but they sold it years ago.

Xerox sued in 1989, but four of five counts were dismissed, and the one count that remained had no legal damages associated with it. None of the counts were dismissed due to SOL issues; the court’s decision is available online but it’s a pretty difficult read unless you’re an attorney.

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/734/1542/1461830/

The options were to take a look and were not compensation for any IP that was used in the future.
People quote the $1 million in options as payment for IP. The IP was never acquired.
They most definitely copied the look and feel for the Lisa. That was before "Look and Feel" were things your could sue for.

I stand by what I said, the MacOS (Up to 9 anyway) was a plagiarized.
MacOS X, iPhone OS is a different story and is based on NeXTStep which was acquired when they re-hired Steve.
[doublepost=1530208584][/doublepost]

Did you catch this little gem?

Except when Qualcom applies this to modem components...

This part.

 

[PickUrPoison]

The options were to take a look and were not compensation for any IP that was used in the future.
People quote the $1 million in options as payment for IP. The IP was never acquired.
They most definitely copied the look and feel for the Lisa. That was before "Look and Feel" were things your could sue for.

I stand by what I said, the MacOS (Up to 9 anyway) was a plagiarized.
MacOS X, iPhone OS is a different story and is based on NeXTStep which was acquired when they re-hired Steve.
[doublepost=1530208584][/doublepost]

This part.

No, it wasn’t $1,000,000 to take a look and do nothing with it. PARC thought Apple could commercialize the technogy where they themselves had failed. That was the whole point of bringing Apple in. It was killing them that their inventions and innovation were sitting in a lab, essentially gathering dust.

If PARC thought they had had their IP “stolen” they would have filed suit in 1984 when the Mac debuted, or soon thereafter. You need to read firsthand accounts from those at PARC at the time, they certainly didn’t feel that they had been ripped off.

It was new management at PARC in 1989 who thought they could get something more out of Apple. The court disagreed with them.

 

[Mescagnus]

Finally.

Now Samsung can, with good conscience, copy the notch for their 2019 Galaxys and Notes

 

[Lloydbm41]

Samsung has had about three original ideas, ever.

Has Apple had any?
[doublepost=1530243329][/doublepost]

Whilst this won't stop Samsung doing what they do, it's not even about the money... it's about sending a message to the other copy cats.

Don't do it.

Steve Jobs was VERY careful when designing this product platform.
Why? Because he was not so careful with the Mac OS and well, we all know how that turned out.

To be fair, he patented a black, rectangle with rounded corners. A joke of a patent and now because of it, I can patent a cube, with rounded corners and sue anyone that uses it. Patents were not supposed to be broad and unspecific in nature, and if they were, they weren't likely to be enforced. There were merits in many of the patents, and Samsung should have been held libel, but there were also several that should not have been used to sue with.
[doublepost=1530243391][/doublepost]

Finally.

Now Samsung can, with good conscience, copy the notch for their 2019 Galaxys and Notes

No need for it anymore. They are skipping the notch and going straight to a full screen display with in-display sensors.

 

[gnasher729]

I wonder if Apple got a credit against its parts bill instead of the judgement. A credit would be non-taxable for apple and a non-cash expense for Samsung, which would be a win-win.

However you do it, Apple will have more profit and Samsung will have less profit in this tax year, so one has to pay more tax and one pays less.
[doublepost=1530263785][/doublepost]

To be fair, he patented a black, rectangle with rounded corners. A joke of a patent and now because of it, I can patent a cube, with rounded corners and sue anyone that uses it. Patents were not supposed to be broad and unspecific in nature, and if they were, they weren't likely to be enforced. There were merits in many of the patents, and Samsung should have been held libel, but there were also several that should not have been used to sue with.

Please read up to find out what a design patent is. It's a lot more than "black, rectangle with rounded corners". Apple got a design patent for a phone that looks like an iPhone 3GS. Probably for other phones. Samsung does have design patents for Samsung Galaxy shaped phones. You may have noticed that there are plenty of phones with a shape that is a rectangle with rounded corners that don't get sued. Because you must match _everything_ in a design patent to be infringing. (That is if Apple had indeed a design patent for "black, rectangle with rounded corners" then Samsung could have freely created a silver, gold, or green phone).
[doublepost=1530264147][/doublepost]

It is only gassy/fizzy beer that is in short supply. Proper hand pumped beer is readily available. Just popping out for a Pint of Harvey's Best Bitter to celbrate Germany getting dumped out of the World Cup.

Once every fifty years Germany is not ahead of England in the World Cup. Enjoy it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

 

[FFR]

Has Apple had any?
[doublepost=1530243329][/doublepost]
To be fair, he patented a black, rectangle with rounded corners. A joke of a patent and now because of it, I can patent a cube, with rounded corners and sue anyone that uses it. Patents were not supposed to be broad and unspecific in nature, and if they were, they weren't likely to be enforced. There were merits in many of the patents, and Samsung should have been held libel, but there were also several that should not have been used to sue with.
[doublepost=1530243391][/doublepost]
No need for it anymore. They are skipping the notch and going straight to a full screen display with in-display sensors.

Sounds like sour grapes.

 

[maflynn]

I wonder how many millions of dollars both sides had spent in pursuit of this lawsuit.

 

[Rocketman]

I am quite surprised but also quite happy.

 

[LordVic]

I wonder how many millions of dollars both sides had spent in pursuit of this lawsuit.

I bet that both companies looked at the cost of continuing the lawsuits and agreed that at this point, they've spent more on lawyers than the potential wins, making it just make more monetary sense to just... settle.