German Court Upholds Ban On Samsung Galaxy Tab 314
A user writes "It seems Samsung has finally lost the battle against Apple in Germany. Today the district court in Düsseldorf ruled that Samsung must not sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany. Furthermore, it has banned Samsung Germany from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 anywhere in Europe."
Apple (Score:5, Funny)
Driving innovation in the field of shapes forward.
Re:Apple (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Apple (Score:5, Funny)
Its a ROUNDED rectangle.
I wrote the innovation in allcaps so you wouldn't miss it.
Re:Apple (Score:5, Funny)
I mean, it's not like anyone who actually considered the evidence and listened to the arguments would find for Apple.
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I am still trying to work out what happened in the actual court.
"I think these two pictures look the same"
"Yeah, I think so too"
"Agreed?"
"Court is adjourned"
Surely you hardly need more than a few minutes.
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"Still the same picture?"
"Yeah..."
"Injunction confirmed."
What else can you hope for in a place where a "late night before the law exam" refers to a party in the university pub? right?
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I have an Acer Iconia tablet and my wife has the early Samsung 7" tablets. The reality is that the Samsung tablets are a ripoff of the Apple tablets. Look at the ports, Oh wait there are none (unlike most Android tablets). What about the connector? Oh wait it looks just like the Apple (even though most android tablets are not like that). The reality is that Samsung is ripping off the design of Apple...
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While there is probably some truth to the notion that Samsung took the best external design elements of the Ipad for the Tab, it's sort of ludicrous to ban their product because of it. The underlying principle of the law in the US as I understand it is that Samsung can't sell something that confuses buyers into thinking that they are actually buying an Ipad. I imagine that the basis of the German law is similar.
I am quite surprised that Apple actually won this case, and dare I say that I think Apple is prob
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Yes, but this is Germany.
What is the underlying principle of the law there?
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No, german law (and that means the rest of the world except of the US; obviously) is not similar.
If you "invent" something and give it a "unique" look and feel, I can not just copy "your" look and feel.
As a matter of fact I have not much clue about this law suit (I have more important stuff to do). But it embraces how less clue most /.
Re:Apple (Score:4, Insightful)
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Damn those pesky facts, they always get in the way of a good argument!
That's OK, at least German court has a proper lack of respect for facts. They don't let facts push them around, no siree.
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Such as?
Re:Apple (Score:5, Funny)
"I find in favor of Sam^H^H^H...what...uh...oh, here it is: Apple! I could have sworn I wrote something different, earlier."
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The relevant piece of so-called "IP" (Score:3)
I read about this originally in this Techcrunch article:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/09/apple-ftw-german-court-upholds-galaxy-tab-10-1-sales-ban/ [techcrunch.com]
In it, they link to the design in question, Community Design 000181607 for the iPad:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/61944044/Community-Design-000181607-0001 [scribd.com]
Look at it! I mean look at it! It is literally a rounded rectangle with a screen on the front! I'm not even exaggerating. Look at it!
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I realize you're trolling this story making a ton of posts (10 at the time of my post, all trolls) ridiculing anyone that has bad things to say about Apple, but your response is completely nonsensical to mine, making it not even an amusing troll.
The judge obviously did see this document, as it is purported to be the Community Design (what people are calling patents) in question around which this case revolves.
The judge has decided that, "Apple’s minimalistic design isn’t the only technical solut
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Look at it! I mean look at it! It is literally a rounded rectangle with a screen on the front! I'm not even exaggerating. Look at it!
Wow! This makes all the dumb patents look insignificant.
I'm going out today to register rectangular bricks. I'll be able to sue every builder in the world for using my design.
Re:The relevant piece of so-called "IP" (Score:5, Interesting)
I came across this yesterday and found it interesting (comparisons of what Samsung's tablets looked like before and after the iPad came out):
It seems like it's not quite as silly as it's usually been presented. (Don't get me wrong, I do think it's silly.)
-Ster
sorry, it's even more silly (Score:3)
golly, a phone-call icon that has a phone handset on it. a notebook icon that looks like notebook paper. contact information that looks like a head-and-shoulders of a, um, contact.
apple sucks. they do evil.
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Did they say anything about how it feels? Maybe if they'd ignored feel in the first place they'd have put Microsoft out of business in 1994.
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Ever read a patent application? Ever research the long list of cited patents in every one?
Innovation is nothing but copying and adding a dot.
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There are no laws against copying ideas. Legit patents, sure, but not ideas. And given all the prior art, it's clear the only reason Apple has any design patents on the iPad is that the shape had so much obvious non-patent prior art, and was so simple, no one bothered to try before Apple did it.
Can anyone tell me... (Score:5, Insightful)
Can anyone tell me why this isn't prior art?
http://techcrunch.com/2009/07/04/crunchpad-prototype-coming-this-month-be-available-asap/ [techcrunch.com]
http://techcrunch.com/2008/07/21/we-want-a-dead-simple-web-tablet-help-us-build-it/ [techcrunch.com]
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My monitor could be prior art. Its a rectangle with rounded edges so I don't cut my hand against the edge when closing the laptop lid.
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Because, despite many misleading headlines and voluminous nerdrage, this has never been about tablets in general. Apple didn't sue Samsung for making a tablet. Apple sued Samsung for making a tablet with some very specific features and designs that they claimed were stolen from protected Apple designs. After looking at the case, the courts have agreed that those very specific features were indeed used improperly.
But all the headlines are "Apple claims they own all tablets" and then we get posts like yours.
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Care to toss me a link to an article listing these very specific features?
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If they called it a Samsung iTablet or some such shit I could see a vague argument, but its not, and knock off similarities are perfectly fine in different devices. This whole situation is fucked. Apple has traveled down the wrong road here, their very essence is take OTHER people's developments and making them shinier and simplified. Its not innovation, its turning advanced technology into "McTechnology", easily consumable by the masses (although so far the masses that buy Apple products tend to pay MOR
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Apple claims to own rectangular tablet computers with rounded corners and cameras on the front that can be used in portrait mode. If that doesn't just about cover all tablets what does?
Everybody had those on Deep Space 9.
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Do they? Is that the complete court filings compressed into one sentence? Where did you read the court filings? (And doctored documents posted by bloggers do not count as court filings.) Is it possible Slashdot posters and the judge have different sources?
Re:Can anyone tell me... (Score:5, Informative)
Apple claims to own rectangular tablet computers with rounded corners and cameras on the front that can be used in portrait mode.
Interesting, considering that the first iPad didn't have a front-facing camera, and those of us who thought that was a ridiculous oversight were called Apple-hating trolls and told that a camera would be a useless addition.
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What, you've never complained about a missing or broken feature in an Apple product before?
My favorite is still this forum thread [ipadforums.net] where a guy is complaining that he's using "hun" to address his girlfriend, and iPad email and chat apps always capitalize it; so he was asking for a way to add his spelling to the spell checker dictionary - and, apparently, it is simply not extensible in iOS. The advice he got from a resident Apple fan:
"call her something else besides hun? Honey? Baby? Babe? Seems like an easy f
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Yeah, I mean when buying an expensive device you don't check whether the box has "Samsung" or "Apple" on it, you don't check what OS the device runs or anything of that sort, you just pick it up at random and then realise you made a mistake. Whoops.
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No, my argument is that 'causing confusion among buyers' is a bit silly if you're putting your name and brand and OS on it. We're not talking about selling an iiPad.
I realise that people try to cheat with apple clones or whatever, but this is not the case. The packaging clearly shows that you're not buying an Ipad.
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So what does "So you are argument" mean? Sorry, I am not a native English speaker but that just sounds very strange to me!
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Supplying components to Apple != being involved in Apple's manufacturing process.
It shipped after the iPad (Score:2)
And from conception it was supposed to be a big iPod Touch anyway, so they're still copying Apple.
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I know people seem to forget things, but around that time the rumor mill was in full gear speculating that Apple was creating a secret "tablet-like" device. I believe it all started with this patent: Apple Reveals Secret Notebook Tablet [patentlyapple.com]. The patent was revele
Apple! (Score:4, Funny)
Too bad Apple can't sell their iDevices on their own merits, rather than snuffing out the competition!
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one needs only to look at the sales numbers of iPads vs absolutely-fucking-anything to realize that they're having no trouble moving them.
Nobody's denying that. What the grandparent post is saying is that if the Samsung would have been on sale then Apple would have sold less. And if Apple hadn't been running around the whole phone and touchpad market threatening people then a whole bunch of other devices better than the Samsung would have been on the market earlier. Apple is directly hurting the consumer by stopping the production of any device which is better than their own.
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What apps are it missing? I've switched from iPhone to Android and so far I'm missing.. let's see.. LuxDlx game. Granted I also have replaced it with 3 or 4 other games that pass the time..
Malware ridden? Do you mean the 3 or 4 different malware items that no longer exists on the market? Where I come from that term would indicate that a sizable chunk - let's say 50% - of apps are pure malware. Please provide proof of this claim.
Crap user experience / worst operating system? - Hard to proof or disprove
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Nazis..... (Score:2)
I hate those guys - Indiana Jones
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Illinois Nazis.
-Elwood Blues
I hate Illinois Nazis.
-Jake Blues
Finally? (Score:5, Informative)
According to the story Samsung Germany is appealing the decision so it's probably not "final". In addition, the ruling only bans Samsung Germany from selling into the EU marketplace; other Samsung divisions can sell into it.
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Damn German Capitalists! (Score:2)
Who would have thought that, in 2011, we would be complaining about the damn German Capitalists ruining Europe?
I guess the old motto still holds true: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
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I would've thought by now we'd be pissed that the people on Ganymede were running an unobtainium cartel and driving up the price of telekinesis.
But, it's still Germans. And not one flying car.
"Minimalistic Design" (Score:4, Informative)
The Apple Defenders are cracking me up defending this.
The judge had the gall to say "The court is of the opinion that Apple's minimalistic design isn't the only technical solution to make a tablet computer". Seriously.
If you don't understand how absolutely ridiculous that is, the idea of a "minimalistic design" (even if you then go into details about silly things like rounded corners, no buttons, etc...) as something you can own, then there's simply no hope for you.
Germany's a bit nutty anyway, so I don't put too much stock in it. Worst case Samsung should just add a little button somewhere, change a few angles here or there, and resell. Then it can continue the slow domination of Apple again.
Re:"Minimalistic Design" (Score:4, Insightful)
The Nike "swoosh" is also a "minimalist design". Yet if I make a logo that looks almost the same, except I put a pink dot in the middle of mine, Nike are still going to haul my ass to court.
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If it is a logo it is by definition without function, and has no place in a minimalist design.
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At least 10 other companies make tablets that don't look like iPads and they aren't being sued by Apple.
Prior art (Score:4, Informative)
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Apparently, Samsung's lawyers are not that bright.
Look at more than just the front of that frame (Score:3)
From any other angle it looks wildly different than an iPad.
http://photos.appleinsider.com/samsungvsapple.003.082411.jpg [appleinsider.com]
This is why anti-Apple sites only show you the front of the frame, to make you think the whole thing looked like an iPad. The patent does not just concern the front, but the whole design together, which must be copied in order to get an injunction. And that's what Samsung did.
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Re:Prior art (Score:4, Interesting)
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I take it this "solandri" dude contacted the Samsung legal team with his amazing discovery?
No?
Then what was the point?
Nope (Score:3)
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2011/08/23/samsungs-digital-picture-frame-was-no-ipad [roughlydrafted.com]
Someones hand is in the cookie jar. (Score:2)
Based on what the judge wrote, it sounds to me like he has his hand in the Apple's cookie jar.
OS News [osnews.com] has more info on this.
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German judges are so well known for their corruptibility, after all.
Gene Roddenberry's estate (Score:2)
Whoever controls Gene Roddenberry's estate should sue apple. [wikipedia.org]
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This is not the "real" case (Score:4, Informative)
My understanding (but IANAL and my German is poor) from the judgement http://www.lg-duesseldorf.nrw.de/presse/pressemitteilungen_ab_2009/13-11.pdf [lg-duesseldorf.nrw.de] (small PDF) and also from this article http://www.chip.de/news/Galaxy-Tab-10.1-Verkaufsverbot-endgueltig-bestaetigt_50819592.html [www.chip.de] is that this is not a decision on the patent, but simple the rejection of Samsungs attempt to have the provisional injunction lifted. The real case is due maybe mid-2012 !
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This is the problem with the courts.
An provisional injunction that prevents you from selling something for a year is effectively a judgment. What, is the court going to say Ok, we were wrong, Samsung can go back in time and sell their tablets? No, they'll probably say "ok, in 2013 you can go ahead and sell your 2011 tablet" when the product isn't even being manufactured any longer...
Prior art (Score:2)
http://www.amazon.com/Archos-32-Internet-Tablet-Android/dp/B002OL2PLU
Archos 5 Internet Tablet was released September 15th 2009 with android Apple iPad April 2010. Archos should sue Apple to block the iPad in Europe. Jobisan Fanbois starting to see how this could get out of hand? no? figures
Germany the home of the Apple Fan Boys! (Score:2)
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", it has banned Samsung Germany from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 anywhere in Europe"
I think its just Samsung Germany, other importers/whatever from Europe can still sell it.
Re:I don't understand (Score:4, Informative)
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They're both rounded rectangles. You see Apple invented the rounded rectangle. If you find any textbooks which say otherwise, please return them to the Ministry of Information for corrections.
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"... what? ipscreen? 500 mebibibbets..es.. Huh? oh.. my head hurts... Oooh, pretty picture.... I like.... Apple good."
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A nice meal... a few beers... some after dinner "entertainment"...
German judges are such pushovers.
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Right....
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Too bad Samsung hired a bunch of incompetents as lawyers. Any outraged nerd on slashdot could have done better.
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Different size, different layout, different aspect ratio, etc. If you're going to claim they are the same, how about you list the similarities other then "rectangular with rounded corners and a camera on the front" which is all I've seen Apple claim so far.
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> Since the German court has ruled twice on the side of the argument that I agree with, I really don't think I have to.
Yes, you do. You have to explain why you agree with it, not come here with some bullshit judicial positivism.
Different: Different size, different layout, different aspect ratio, different number of buttons.
Similar: Rounded rectangle. Camera.
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so you o and build a mercedes benz that has a star on its front which has a different size?
iPad has a very prominent Apple logo on the back. Galaxy Tab has a very prominent Samsung logo right in front, under the screen. Your analogy is about as wrong as it can get
DESIGN patent (Score:2)
It's about looks. It's more akin to trademark than a functional patent.
The car equivalent is Mercedes describing the look of the SLS in in a design patent, which Mercedes has done. Then Kia comes out with a car that looks almost exactly like it. That would face an injunction just as Samsung has.
As it is the Japanese have been skirting the European car maker design patents very closely over the last couple decades, borrowing one or two parts of the looks of European cars, but never going far enough (AFAIK) t
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Internet nerds? If youare not an Internet nerd what are you doing in a forum arguing about the merits of Apples patent claims. You telling me you are a TMZ surfing hottie that took a wrong turn at Alburquerque and accidently ended up posting on Slashsdot?
Hey Pot meet Kettle... just sayin
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Since Apple has done precisely that before, maybe we should ask some of the people Apple nicked designs off of.
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Such as? The phone that turned out to have been launched after the iPhone announcement? Or maybe some photoshop job posted to some blog somewhere? The myth that Apple store the GUI from Xerox when they in reality had a contract?
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Try this image showing Samsung's direction (Score:2)
http://photos.appleinsider.com/samsungvsapple.081911.jpg [appleinsider.com]
We know what Samsung thought phones and tablets should look like before and after the iPhone and iPad.
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