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Businesses Patents The Almighty Buck United States Apple

Apple, Samsung Settle After Fighting Seven Years in Court (bloomberg.com) 61

Posted by msmash from the done-deal dept.
Apple and Samsung reached a settlement in their U.S. patent battle, putting an end to a seven-year fight over smartphone designs. From a report: The string of lawsuits started in 2011 when Apple sued Samsung for allegedly copying the design of the iPhone in the creation of its own line of smartphones. Terms of the accord weren't immediately disclosed. The settlement follows a damages retrial in which Apple won a $539 million jury award in May.
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Apple, Samsung Settle After Fighting Seven Years in Court More

Apple, Samsung Settle After Fighting Seven Years in Court

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  • Apple sued Samsung for allegedly copying the design of the iPhone in the creation of its own line of smartphones

    Samsung was making smartphones back in 2001, when Apple was trying to figure out how to copy Creative's MP3 player. Apple may have complained about Samsung copying the iPhone for a later line of smartphones, but Samsung was one of the early pioneers in the smartphone space, well before Apple even thought about getting into the space.

    • I used to carry around a Blackjack 2 running an NES emulator so I could tune out boring meetings. Everyone at the time just thought I was working on an email.

    • Re:Timing error... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Freischutz ( 4776131 ) on Wednesday June 27, 2018 @02:43PM (#56855522)

      Apple sued Samsung for allegedly copying the design of the iPhone in the creation of its own line of smartphones

      Samsung was making smartphones back in 2001, when Apple was trying to figure out how to copy Creative's MP3 player. Apple may have complained about Samsung copying the iPhone for a later line of smartphones, but Samsung was one of the early pioneers in the smartphone space, well before Apple even thought about getting into the space.

      So Samsung has been making mobile phones for a while. What the hell does that have to do with anything? I remember the original Samsung smartphones. They were so similar to the 1-3G iPhones I inadvertently walked off with a Samsung phone a couple of times when I mistook one for my iPhone 3G. Here's a graphic that kind of says it all: http://allthingsd.com/files/20... [allthingsd.com] I saw one of the first Android prototypes too. It was a half screen and half keyboard affair that was clearly meant to be a Blackberry killer. Nobody took Apple seriously as a phone manufacturer, they all figured Apple would bring out some kind of glorified iPod with a keypad. When the iPhone hit the market everybody went back to the drawing board and the next thing you know they're all, by some cosmic coincidence, selling phones that look like more or less exactly like the iPhone. But of course none of them copied what Apple was doing ... perish the thought.

      • So Samsung has been making mobile phones for a while. What the hell does that have to do with anything?

        You answered your own question:

        I remember the original Samsung smartphones. They were so similar to the 1-3G iPhones I inadvertently walked off with a Samsung phone a couple of times when I mistook one for my iPhone 3G.

        Seems Apple was the one copying, if what you say is true.

        [clicks link to view image]

        Oh.

        Well, now...

        If the original Samsung smartphones look like iPhones to you, you might need to get your eyes checked.

        • So Samsung has been making mobile phones for a while. What the hell does that have to do with anything?

          You answered your own question:

          I remember the original Samsung smartphones. They were so similar to the 1-3G iPhones I inadvertently walked off with a Samsung phone a couple of times when I mistook one for my iPhone 3G.

          Seems Apple was the one copying, if what you say is true. [clicks link to view image] Oh. Well, now... If the original Samsung smartphones look like iPhones to you, you might need to get your eyes checked.

          Dude, the iPhone came out first, the Samsung copy came out after the iPhone. so unless Apple has a time machine it was Samsung that copied the iPhone 1G.

          • Did you miss the latter half of my comment? I mean, you quoted it, so I assume you read it and just didn't get it...

            In the first part of your comment you said:

            I remember the original Samsung smartphones. They were so similar to the 1-3G iPhones I inadvertently walked off with a Samsung phone a couple of times when I mistook one for my iPhone 3G.

            Then, you linked to a photo of Samsung's original smartphones, the iPhone, and phones Samsung released after the iPhone, which would not be Samsung's original smartphones. That's what the last line of my comment was pointing out, which doesn't contradict me saying the following:

            Seems Apple was the one copying, if what you say is true.

            Because what you say is not true, Samsung's original smartphones looked

      • Re:Timing error... (Score:5, Informative)

        by Solandri ( 704621 ) on Wednesday June 27, 2018 @04:11PM (#56856058)
        FYI, the center pic in your link should be of an LG Prada [wikipedia.org], not an iPhone. The Prada was the first smartphone to go without a keyboard or keypad, not the iPhone. As I keep telling people, just because the first time you saw a feature was on an Apple product, does not mean Apple invented it.

        The pics on the left and right are also cherry-picked to make it look like the iPhone was the progenitor of the modern smartphone design. Here's what the pic looks like if you cherry-pick phones to make the comparison favorable to Samsung [venturebeat.com].

        Samsung already had phones in their internal design pipeline [arstechnica.net] prior to the iPhone's release which looked very iPhone-like. They just weren't allowed to present them in court because they missed a filing deadline [arstechnica.com]. The judge in the case opted to prioritize a legal deadline over the truth, which makes sense if a lawyer is exhibiting a pattern of missing deadlines, but not when potentially a billion dollars is at stake. The truth is the industry was already transitioning towards touch and away from physical keyboards by the time the iPhone rolled out. The iPhone did not create this new paradigm, it just happened to make the biggest splash with it.

        Samsung missed no deadlines in the similar case over the iPad's design. So they were able to successfully argue that the concept of a tablet existed long before the iPad, and that the Samsung Galaxy Tab's design actually borrowed from their digital picture frame [androidauthority.com] which pre-dates the iPad (and the iPhone for that matter). And the jury ruled for Samsung in the tablet design patent case. They weren't jerks about it either - they didn't sue Apple for stealing their picture frame design for the iPad.

        • FYI, the center pic in your link should be of an LG Prada [wikipedia.org], not an iPhone. The Prada was the first smartphone to go without a keyboard or keypad, not the iPhone. As I keep telling people, just because the first time you saw a feature was on an Apple product, does not mean Apple invented it.

          Hehe... really? According to that article the first image of the LG Prada came out in 2007 and it was released in December 2008. I actually still have a HP iPaq H6340 tablet phone that I bought back in 2004 or 2005, no physical keyboard, no physical keypad, just a software keyboard and a phone app. You could get an extra snap on keyboard but I never found much use for it.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward

          Samsung missed no deadlines in the similar case over the iPad's design. So they were able to successfully argue that the concept of a tablet existed long before the iPad, and that the Samsung Galaxy Tab's design actually borrowed from their digital picture frame [androidauthority.com] which pre-dates the iPad (and the iPhone for that matter). And the jury ruled for Samsung in the tablet design patent case. They weren't jerks about it either - they didn't sue Apple for stealing their picture frame design for the iPad.

          What a stupid claim. There are several Slashdot stories even from before the release of the iPhone about an "Apple tablet" that link to articles with photos of the design of the iPad. And those articles were all over the world back then. https://hardware.slashdot.org/... [slashdot.org] https://hardware.slashdot.org/... [slashdot.org]

      • When the iPhone hit the market everybody went back to the drawing board and the next thing you know they're all, by some cosmic coincidence, selling phones that look like more or less exactly like the iPhone. But of course none of them copied what Apple was doing ... perish the thought.

        Don't get into ANY argument with LynwoodRooster or BronsCon on ANY Apple subject. They will simply supply circular logic in post after post until you give up in exasperation.

        Then they will feel like they have "won", when all they have actually done is wear you out; because they both seem to have nothing better to do than debate on Slashdot All. Day. Long.

        • You are wrong [arstechnica.net]. Samsung was already well down the path of "no keyboard/all screen" before the release of the iPhone. But hey - you're a Fake Tim Cook, what do we expect?

        • When the iPhone hit the market everybody went back to the drawing board and the next thing you know they're all, by some cosmic coincidence, selling phones that look like more or less exactly like the iPhone. But of course none of them copied what Apple was doing ... perish the thought.

          Don't get into ANY argument with LynwoodRooster or BronsCon on ANY Apple subject. They will simply supply circular logic in post after post until you give up in exasperation.

          Then they will feel like they have "won", when all they have actually done is wear you out; because they both seem to have nothing better to do than debate on Slashdot All. Day. Long.

          Yeah but I've been around since all telephones were grey and only worked if you attached them to a wall with a cable. Converting that from tech years to human years it's like having been around since there were still Neanderthals walking the earth. It's downright fun when these whippersnappers lecture me with such condescending arrogance on things like who was the first to market a mobile phone without a keyboard or key pad. Oh, and I do agree LynwoodRooster's posts tend not to make much sense. I blame it o

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Kartu ( 1490911 )

        So Samsung has been making mobile phones for a while. What the hell does that have to do with anything? I remember the original Samsung smartphones. They were so similar to the 1-3G iPhones I inadvertently walked off with a Samsung phone a couple of times when I mistook one for my iPhone 3G.

        Bullshit.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )

        So Samsung has been making mobile phones for a while. What the hell does that have to do with anything? I remember the original Samsung smartphones. They were so similar to the 1-3G iPhones I inadvertently walked off with a Samsung phone a couple of times when I mistook one for my iPhone 3G. Here's a graphic that kind of says it all: http://allthingsd.com/files/20... [allthingsd.com] I saw one of the first Android prototypes too. It was a half screen and half keyboard affair that was clearly meant to be a Blackberry killer. Nobody took Apple seriously as a phone manufacturer, they all figured Apple would bring out some kind of glorified iPod with a keypad. When the iPhone hit the market everybody went back to the drawing board and the next thing you know they're all, by some cosmic coincidence, selling phones that look like more or less exactly like the iPhone. But of course none of them copied what Apple was doing ... perish the thought.

        No they weren't... If you cant tell the difference between a Samsung Galaxy and Iphone, that really says a lot about how daft you are. Here's a non-photoshoped picture for reference. [wp.com] Its a different size, colour and has the word "Samsung" prominently displayed in large letters.

        I cant imagine how many Android phones you walk off with now IOS has changed into Android. [cloudfront.net]

  • Now if only SCO could do the same...
    Now if only Oracle could do the same...

    • Why would anyone settle with SCO? At this point I would accept nothing less than having all their staff and lawyer's testicles irradiated by a very strong Cobalt source.

    • SCO's lawyers are sentenced by their own idiocy to a lifetime of fighting a lost battle without receiving payment. Letting them go home would really spoil the fun!

  • I still haven't seen any smartphones with sharp corners.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      https://www.google.com/search?q=sharp+smartphone&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZ_Jrcy_TbAhUBwlkKHeV2AeUQsxgIKQ

    • The CAT S41 [diesellaptops.com] is close. Beveled corners instead of rounded, so you have 8 fairly sharp corners rather than 4 really sharp corners.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by SeaFox ( 739806 )

      I still haven't seen any smartphones with sharp corners.

      Lots of Sony smartphones have square corners.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Gonoff ( 88518 )

      I still haven't seen any smartphones with sharp corners.

      I haven't seen seen any phone with sharp edges - smart, feature, dumb, car, wall, satelite or historical.
      Have Apple lawyers considered taking out a suit on Mr AG Bell for using their ideas?

  • The real winners (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I would love to hear the total for legal fees across both sides for the duration of this court battle.

  • This is very bad news ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Alain Williams ( 2972 ) <addw@phcomp.co.uk> on Wednesday June 27, 2018 @02:43PM (#56855520) Homepage

    for all the lawyers involved.

  • What a waste of time / judicial resources this was.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Not at all. Apple protected its IP and patents. Samsung lost and had to come begging for a settlement. The fact is they outright copied someone's design. Every Android phone is a just a pale copy of iOS now. Eat it.

  • apple didn't really win anything (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    the amount of bad PR and ridicule apple gets over this lawsuit will live on long after its over. apple is all about image and this sure didn't help their. This all started back at the time apple was suing schools for using an apple in their logos. No wonder they lost the classrooms to Chromebooks. This all just helped cement apple as a bully and despicable company

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