UK Judge: Galaxy Tab "Not Cool" Enough To Infringe iPad

zacharye writes "U.K. Judge Colin Birss has ruled that Samsung can continue selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the region because the Android tablet is 'not as cool' as the iPad and therefore is unlikely to be confused with Apple's slate. Samsung's Galaxy line of tablets 'do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design,' Judge Birss said. 'They are not as cool.'"

Re:Catch-22

[Rei]

There's an old joke in the writing community about how if you're going to write a (real) man into a book as a character and are afraid that he might sue for libel, write him in with a tiny penis [wikipedia.org]. Because the men who would sue and claim, "yes, your honor, I'm the guy with the tiny penis in this book" are few and far between.

Michael Crichton kind of went overboard with this one [talkingpointsmemo.com], though.

Read the whole decision

[jbernardo]

""Samsung had requested this voluntary trial in September 2011, in order to oppose Apple's ongoing efforts to reduce consumer choice and innovation in the tablet market through their excessive legal claims and arguments. Apple has insisted that the three Samsung tablet products infringe several features of Apple's design right, such as 'slightly rounded corners,' 'a flat transparent surface without any ornamentation,' and 'a thin profile.' "However, the High Court dismissed Apple's arguments by referring to approximately 50 examples of prior art, or designs that were previously created or patented, from before 2004. These include the Knight Ridder (1994), the Ozolin (2004), and HP's TC1000 (2003). The court found numerous Apple design features to lack originality, and numerous identical design features to have been visible in a wide range of earlier tablet designs from before 2004."

They might be cool (after all, the target market values form over function) but they aren't original!

Re:Is the judge a member of Anon?

[AmiMoJo]

I bothered to RTFA and the cool part isn't really what he was saying, just some throw-away soundbite. The decision was because Samsung products look substantially different to Apple products. To quote:

The judge found that Samsungâ(TM)s products were distinctive because they were thinner and had âoeunusual detailsâ on the back.

In other words they are a different, slimmer form factor and have a Samsung logo on the back. That is a double win for Samsung because it shows a judge isn't fooled by Apple's rather weak similarities argument and that Samsung's products are officially and legally declared thinner than Apple's (assuming you care, hipsters seem to).

He could only apply it incorrectly...

[Kupfernigk]

This is English law. We don't have "trade dress", we have "passing off". Apple would basically have to show that either Samsung were misrepresenting their tablet as being either an Apple tablet, or their product was designed to be so similar that the buying public would be confused.

Apple is a widely recognised trade mark, so if it says "Samsung" on the back the chance of confusion is minimal.

Confusing...

[Kupfernigk]

You keep using US terminology. This is England and we have the law of England and Wales. We don't have State law. Common law is NOT the practical implementation of legislative law: we have Statute Law and this overrides Common Law where it is applicable. The judge is not setting any kind of precedent because he is applying the Common Law on passing off, and he has made no extension to it; he has just said "For these two reasons (the manufacturer is identified and the design is not as obsessively minimalistic) this is not an attempt at passing off".

Most "Passing off" is subjective; I am reminded of the Chrysler that has been made to look like a Bentley. When asked if they would sue Chrysler for passing off, the Bentley spokesman is said to have replied "Nobody who might actually buy one of our cars would be fooled for an instant." This is a very similar example.

Re:Apple is good for graphics

[TheDarkMaster]

Microsoft and Freetype uses a different concept when drawing a character on a LCD. Microsoft/Freetype prefer to adjust the font in the grid, while Apple prefer that the font is drawn as close as possible to the correct (on paper) drawing even that does not fit in the grid. The result is that if the grid does not have a high resolution, the fonts of Apple appear blurred compared with the exact same fonts drawn by Microsoft/Freetype

Re:Is the judge a member of Anon?

[pclminion]

No. A sales engineer is an engineer with unusually good people skills, who comes along with business people on sales trips and provides technical backup, while managing not to commit any of the classical faux pas which are typical of most other engineers (such as calling the customer an idiot when they are bein an idiot).