Samsung Vs. Apple Tit-For-Tat Down Under 313
New submitter GumphMaster writes "In the latest edition of the Apple vs. Samsung patent fight, the ABC is reporting that Samsung has filed in Australian and Japanese courts seeking an injunction to halt sales of the iPhone 4S for alleged 3G patent violations. It remains to be seen whether Samsung has any better luck with the retaliatory strike in Australian and Japanese courts than it did with courts in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, I expect that Samsung will fail partly because of overseas precedent, but mostly because their patents are sane, technical and narrow in scope (unlike the patent-a-rectangle nature of the opposition). If this stupidity ever stops, then millions of dollars, euro, or Won that are being spent on lawyers might actually go into the innovation that patents are meant to promote. Who knows where that might lead?"
MS Stole Apple's Lunch Money in the 80's (Score:4, Interesting)
Not (primarily) about round-rects (Score:5, Interesting)
As previously stated [slashdot.org], it's not a patent on round-rects:
Re:Hey, buddy. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Not (primarily) about round-rects (Score:4, Interesting)
As far as interface icons are concerned, I'm not sure what the law says, but from a practical point of view I think it's best to encourage companies to imitate each others' interfaces whenever possible: it makes it easier for consumers to switch from using one to another.
Well yes and no. Yes it makes it easier for customers to switch between devices, but it also limits their choice because maybe the customer doesn't _want_ the interface to look like that.
As an example, several years ago I was looking around for a new phone. I was considering an HTC Dream (which I did buy in the end), but the salesman at the Carphone Warehouse was doing his level best to tell me that I didn't want an HTC Dream because it wasn't very iphone-like (it had a hard keyboard rather than an on-screen keyboard) and kept directing me to various other phones because they were "more iphone-like". He didn't seem to be able to grasp the concept that I didn't *want* an iPhone clone, I was specifically looking for a phone with a hard keypad and if I wanted something like the iPhone I'd probably have just damned well bought an iPhone!
Whilst I will accept that having the same interface everywhere is good in environments where you are constantly switching between several devices that do essentially the same job, in an environment where you own and use a single device for this job (which is usually the case with phones) then it would seem more sensible to give the user a UI that they find pleasant and efficient to work with rather than forcing everyone to use the same interface that may well not work for them. This applies equally to other devices, such as desktop PCs - as another example, I find having my PC set to do sloppy-focus so that I can rapidly switch between and work on half-hidden windows. It is a minor inconvenience when I have to use someone else's PC that isn't set up like this, but it would seriously harm my working efficiency if I was unable to set my own workstation how I wanted. Since 99% of my time is spent working on my own workstation, it makes the most sense to have it configured in the best way for *me* (and then having to deal with some inconvenience on the 1% of the time I use a different machine) than it would be to have a lowest-common-denominator setup where everything is identical(ly crap).
Re:Illiterate troll? (Score:4, Interesting)
Um, no...because a console's case has no 'function' other than to look exciting and stop people touching the innards.
A 'pad' computer has to have a touchscreen covering the top side of it. There's no choice about what the principal surface looks like - It's a screen. Period.
It has to be slim so the side walls are pretty much done. Maybe you can use a different color plastic, I dunno.
The back has to be flat and smooth so you can lay it down on things.
That's all sides covered methinks. The only real design choices are whether the corners are rounded and where the connectors go. I don't think Samsung copied Apple's connectors. Arguing about exactly how round the corners are isn't making anybody look intelligent.
Re:Well, it depends (Score:4, Interesting)