Apple vs. Samsung: A Visual Guide to Apple’s IP Claims: Hardware, Icons & Packaging
Author: Johnny5k | Filed under: Apple, Communications, Copyright, Gadgets, SoftwareTaken individually, Apple’s claims may not look like they have much merit. For instance, one of Apple’s trademarks includes, “The mark consists of the configuration of a rectangular handheld mobile digital electronic device with rounded corners.” Another states, “The color gray appears as a rectangle at the front, center of the device” (the screen). It probably isn’t hard to find prior art of rectangular handheld mobile electronic devices with rounded corners and a screen. But put them together in the same configuration as the iPhone – the rounded corners at the same radius, a grid of colorful square icons with rounded corners, with the bottom 4 set apart on a silver background, and the whole device surrounded by silver edges – and the merit of the claim begins to focus.
There are plenty of ways to design a phone, and nothing before the iPhone could have possibly been mistaken for an iPhone. You can put an LG Prada next to an iPhone and make a case for Apple copying some of their design aspects, but you would never mistake the iPhone for the Prada; and that’s what this lawsuit is about – in their hardware design, interface, icons and through to their packaging, Samsung’s products all-around mimic Apple’s quite closely, and that’s what intellectual property Apple is trying to protect.
In this set of visual charts, Apple’s trademarks and self-proclaimed trade dress are broken down line-by-line, and checked against Samsung’s products prior to (SGH-F700 smartphone & Q1 UMPC) and after (Galaxy S smartphone & Galaxy Tab tablet) the release of the iPhone & iPad. While no silver bullet, it does illustrate the transformation Samsung’s products have made since Apple’s devices have been on the market, and how similar they have become to those devices.
Start: Apple vs. Samsung Page 1: Hardware Design
This only covers a portion of the claims Apple has made against Samsung regarding the similarities between their products.
Author Disclosure: I own Apple stock. I obviously (hopefully) didn’t create this in hopes it would help their stock, but I do want to cover my ass so no one can claim I did.
Photo Credits:
iPhone opened box with cover and Galaxy S opened box with cover both available in court document sf-2981926
iPhone and Galaxy S open box birds’ eye view photos are CC BY-NC 2.0 Christopher J Mischler -peanutbuttereggdirt.com
SGH-F700 box photos are © 2006 Tommy Tippy All Rights Reserved, used with permission -http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombyrd
Galaxy Tab packaging photos are CC BY-NC 2.0 – Isriya Paireepairit - flickr.com/photos/isriya
Q1 outside packaging photo © 2006 – Akihabaranews.com Inc – used with permission - kihabaranews.com
Q1 opened box photo © 2006 – Tomi Blinnikka – used with permission - flickr.com/photos/docbliny
Tags: Apple, case, complaint, Galaxy, Galaxy S, icons, infringement, intellectual property, interface, ios, IP, iPad, iPhone, lawsuit, Samsung, Tab, trade dress, trademark, vs
It’s amazing to me that anyone of the device makers would ever sue another one over design… they’re phones, in some fashion, they all look alike or function the same…
To some extent, yes, but the same could be said of cars – they all look pretty much the same; but if Ford started making a car that had an *almost* identical shape, detail, interior and dashboard as a Mini Cooper, BMW would probably have something to say about it. There are going to be aspects that are the same, but when lots of details start looking too much like one of your competitors, it may be infringement. And Apple does have trademarks on a lot of those details that differentiate the iPhone from the rest. Or, at least used to- thus the lawsuit.
The problem is that this lawsuit could set a precedent that Apple could go after any phone that even slightly resembles the shape or color or functionality of an iPhone.
Rounding the corners of a phone is somehow an intellectual infringement. Or having icons that represent basic functionality using images of pretty standard items is infringement… What should they use for a phone icon… an iron. Or for a calendar, stone henge?
I see the point apple is trying to make, but with the difference in carriers, functionality, and operating systems… does it really matter if it looks similar… when you know fully well that iPhones are different than driods…
I don’t know… maybe there are stupid people out there who will buy a samsung thinking it’s an iphone…
Maybe Apple should stop worrying about copyright/patent infringement and start innovating new stuff instead of regurgitating the same thing but with different designs too!
Do you know why they are similar…. because both use Samsung parts!!!! Why do you think Holden, Daewoo and Chevrolet all have very similar looking cars (All from GM motors Chevrolet)!
Scott– that’s *the* most lame argument. It’s the equivalent of saying that because all houses use the same 2×4′s and electrical cables, they all must look similar. What’s on the inside has nothing to do with the outer design of the device.
Not really Chris!! More like saying that the house has the same kitchen, bathroom, lounge and bedrooms, just lay out slightly differently and different colour. Apple uses more than a microchip and some connectors from Samsung.