The Surprises In the Latest Apple V. Samsung Court Documents 257
Nerdfest writes "The lawyers behind the upcoming Apple v. Samsung trial have been hard at work filing docket after docket as their court battle looms closer, and many of those dockets have just been released to the public. We're now seeing a lot of previously secret information about the early days of iPhone and iPad R&D, and what's happened behind closed doors at both Apple and Samsung. Surprises include the iPhone design being 'inspired' by Sony product ideas, and that Samsung was warned that it was copying Apple."
More interesting news in the trial... (Score:5, Interesting)
Microsoft moves to seal their agreement with Samsung for Android licenses.
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20120727084323510 [groklaw.net]
It would be nice to get a close view of the MS-Samsung deal.... it would be even more interesting if it is found that Microsoft PAID money to Samsung rather than the other way round.
Re:Biased Wired.com article (Score:2, Interesting)
The Wired.com article is totally biased towards Apple.
An example is the SONY concept phone released in 2006.
Do you REALLY think that Apple designed and built the iPhone in ONE YEAR?!?
Well, I guess we can tell who's never worked on a REAL product design...
Re:Surprises? (Score:5, Interesting)
That's right. As it seems,Apple did this: They copied Sony's idea based on their description of a product, not any real product, then patented the design as if they had invented it themselves as something genuinely new, and then sued Samsung for damages, claiming that it took them millions of dollars of R&D costs to come up with the design and the product specifications in the first place.
Re:Apple Copies (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Surprises? (Score:5, Interesting)
It will be very tempting for people to make posts saying "how can Apple sue Samsung for rounded corners when they stole the idea from Sony.". These comments will be modded highly, as there is a common misconception on slashdot that Apple has sued Samsung for rounded corners. Rather, Apple has sued Samsung for combining so many visual and behavioral elements from the iPhone and iPad that they have obviously ripped off the design. Any one of these elements in isolation does not infringe on the design, it is the sum of so many similarities. So many similarities, in fact, that Google actually demanded that Samsung alter their design
Very much this. This one paragraph distills the annoyance I have with a number of vocal Slashdotters who have tried to oversimplify their hate of Apple into a meme of rounded rectangular corners. Come on folks, even the most VBasic-crippled, 10E6 numbered poster can figure out the logical constructs of an AND statement....
Re:Surprises? (Score:2, Interesting)
Face it, Apple is busted on this one. But of course facts are never enough to stop an Apple spinbot from spinning on. And on. And on.
Re:Surprises? (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't see how the former could be feasible considering the timeframe. Regarding the latter, don't blame the players, blame the game.
They aren't suing LG as far as I know, so I don't see the relation, and there's strong evidence pointing to Samsung having actually and knowingly copied Apple's designs. Plus as I mention what matters are the dates in which patents are filed, not the time products come out. Once you file an application for a patent you can pretty much assume that it's public knowledge.
Re:Biased Wired.com article (Score:2, Interesting)
Except there was no Sony to design to copy. That mock up is one 100% designed by apple.
There were numerous Sony devices around at the time that were moving towards a more simplistic, button-less touchscreen design with rounded corners. This fact, along with those particular design design features, were noted in the Sony interview.
This is false on 2 counts because there were no scarped plans
The Apple designer who created the "Sony design" has testified that his design changed the course of the project, the existing design was scrapped, and his was adopted instead.
Re:Surprises? (Score:4, Interesting)
You are not hating Apple because of how they do business, you are hating Apple because unlike others they are open about it, you are hating Apple because they're honest.
This is either a fanboy or a shill comment. If you seriously believe it's neither, you're the former.
Seriously, Apple have been abusing patent law for their gain for a while now. You can claim patent law is broken (which it is), and you can claim that their patents are legally valid (which at least some of them are, others are questionable), and you can claim all their competitors are doing the same (which they are, some less aggressively though). However, claiming Apple are being honest and not engaging in anti-competitive patent hoarding and suing is flat out false. Yes, lots of other companies do the same, some are worse, some are better.