With all the legal wars and flailing around that Samsung and Apple do around the world, you seldom hear good news, at least not for Samsung. Samsung products get banned or held off even by some judges as Apple posts a very ‘powerful’ claim against them. There really is just too much of Apple’s patent trolling in the market, and Samsung continues to be their number 1 target.
While Apple may be trolling around in the patent world, Samsung remains no saint. It is true that there are some design similarities with the iPhone and some of the Galaxy products, more notably the Galaxy Ace, which can pass as little sibling to the iPhone 4. Still, it would be wrong to say that it was a complete rip-off, as there are still key differences up close.
Talking about imitation, one of the most popular claims that Apple made against Samsung, is the imitation of the look and feel of the Apple devices. While this is a very understandable claim looking at the Galaxy Ace and the subsequent Galaxy young, it is a very foolish thought to even assume such when looking at a Galaxy Tab in comparison to the Apple iPad.
Apple has claimed in many parts of the globe that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is a direct copy of the iPad. They say that any common man might mistakenly purchase a Galaxy Tab, even though what they were actually looking for was an iPad simply because the Galaxy Tab looks just like it.
Many denizens of the internet scoff at this claim. It would seem that Apple undermines the intelligence of every common man out there. I wonder when and where they were able to get some news that someone wanted to buy an iPad but mistakenly bought a Galaxy Tab, simply by looking at it. It is famous to be one of the most ridiculous claims ever. The dimensions of the slates differ quite a bit, with the Galaxy Tab having a larger diagonal measurement. The length or width don’t even match with each other.
In one court battle in the UK, the Honorable British Judge Briss has commented that the Samsung Galaxy Tab is simply not “cool” enough to even consider as a device that “slavishly copies” the iPad. There is simply no comparison against the minimalist design of the iPad vs. the slimmer Galaxy Tab that bears some “unusual details” on the back.
Both sides had a bittersweet taste after the battle. With the Apple product being branded as “cooler”, Apple designers might feel a little elated at the design superiority that they were praised about. Still, they lost the claim, and prove yet again how silly it is to even call a Galaxy Tab as a slavish copy of the iPad. For Samsung, well, they won, and wouldn’t have to stop selling their devices in the UK. Still, it must feel just a little bit insulting to be branded as the “uncool” product.
Apple has been given 21 days to make an appeal to the findings, although I would have a hard time not laughing if an Apple rep insists that Galaxy Tabs are “just as cool” as the iPad just so they can insist that it is a copy. Labeling a Galaxy Tab to be “just as cool as an iPad” may become too hard to swallow for Apple loyalists, so it is possible that they will just avoid the topic all together in the ongoing consumer debates going on in many forums.
Regardless of the very subjective label that was placed on their product, Samsung is proud to have won the case. A spokeswoman mentioned that:
This has been a resounding comment by many consumers in their dismay of constant Apple lawsuits. With claims going from specific to very broad, there is a clear indication that Apple is throwing rocks randomly at everyone, hoping to make a hit. While admittedly, there are things that they are right about, there are plenty of claims that are rather bullish. Unless there is a reform done in the Patent system, it will remain to be abused by companies like Apple. Do you think that the ruling was right on the mark? Or have they made an error due to subjectivity?
Image sources: phandroid.com, dailymobile.net, digitaltrends.com, deuts.net, nexus404.com, dottech.org
