Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Samsung Seemingly Unconcerned Over Apple Lawsuit, Hints Dispute Could Continue to Escalate
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal discussing Samsung's push to embrace Android for its future tablet products, Samsung's president of mobile communications J.K. Shin notes that the company is seemingly unconcerned over Apple's lawsuit alleging that Samsung has copied the design and technology of the iPhone and iPad with its products. Shin does note, however, that the dispute could continue to escalate, although he apparently has not elaborated on potential scenarios.
"We didn't copy Apple's design," Mr. Shin said. "We have used many similar designs over the past years and it [Apple's allegation] will not be legally problematic." He suggested the scale of the lawsuit could grow, though he didn't provide more details.Apple last week was granted access to unreleased (albeit already announced) Samsung hardware as part of the discovery phase in which Apple's lawyers build the background for their case. In response, Samsung filed a motion requesting access to Apple's next-generation iPhone and iPad models, despite the fact that Apple has yet to even acknowledge that such devices exist.
Samsung and Apple are of course significant partners in the mobile industry, a relationship that makes the competition between the two firms in the marketplace and in the courtroom all the more interesting.
[ 213 comments ]
Top Rated Comments
(View all)
106 months ago
Just more games.
Lawyers and managers at both Samsung and Apple will be trying to influence the other's actions and guess the game plan. This would have been a calculated move by Samsung, Apple will analyse this and make a calculated move back.
Lawsuits between big companies are just business, they happen all the time and are rarely taken personally. The only people who get worked up about it and think it will cause massive problems are the public (eg people on this board!).
Lawyers and managers at both Samsung and Apple will be trying to influence the other's actions and guess the game plan. This would have been a calculated move by Samsung, Apple will analyse this and make a calculated move back.
Lawsuits between big companies are just business, they happen all the time and are rarely taken personally. The only people who get worked up about it and think it will cause massive problems are the public (eg people on this board!).
106 months ago
hardly the same phone in the photos...Apple shot is angled and tilted on the side...Samsung is shot angled and tilted on the OTHER side.
Samsung has 4 icons across and 4 down, Apple has 4 down and four across. Apple has a 4-icon block on the bottom, Samsung has a block with 4 icons on the bottom.
Samsung had the screen dots on the top, Apple has them on the bottom. Samsung has its name on the front Apple does not.
Clearly totally different.
Samsung has copied like many others out there to have a similar phone, BUT Samsung ALSO mimics their ads and photos just like Apple whereas other brands position themselves in a different manner. Samsung is clearly trying to exploit the similar design and prescence that the Apple iPhone takes.
@the "Clearly totally different" comment, there a a slew of similarities. Samsung first marketed the "Instinct" (which was the biggest piece of crap I ever owned) fully pitching its similiraties and how it was better than iPhone (it wasn't.) THeir own advertising could bite them. Also, if anyone could just slightly change an angle or an edge on something and call it their own, there would be no design innovation. (Hello Windows PC's!) It's not about cloning. You don't seem to understand what a knock off is. I'm not stating this is a knock off, let the courts do that, but I can see the argument.
What's funny though is you don't see Payless shoes being sued for all it's designer knock offs (that's their business). It's hard to claim ownership of a grid view, but to the average joe that walked into a wirless store that played with someone's iphone once, it would seem almost like a newer version. Moto and HTC both have grids, but their design shouts who made the phone. Samsung's design doesn't shout "Samsung." Touch Wiz is very IOS. Not just in look, but how it's used. These suits aren't about "exact" copies but "likeness" and CLEARLY there is a likeness. The question is how much does Apple own in legal rights to that look, or is Samsung free to use that "likeness" in additional to under the hood technologies. Samsung even has a "doc like" bottom row.
HTC
MotoBlur Interface
Palm Web OS
Well anyone could argue similarities in all of these, none of them SCREAM iPhone like the Samsung interface does. Compare all 4 and now tell me Samsung is "Clearly Totally Different". And yes, the hardware is similar in ways too. So are 100's of other handsets Apple isn't suing over to be fair.
106 months ago
In the end, this isn't something that is going to have an impact on Samsung, Apple or the customers involved. Petty politics.
106 months ago
Samsung is under contract with Apple. At this point there is legally no bridge that can be burned.
Contracts expire, and new products may not be covered by existing contracts.
There's definitely a bridge.
106 months ago
Is Apple going to attack Samsung because they used the color black or it has the earpiece at the top? Should whoever made the two-door coupe first sue everyone else who makes one?
The suit shouldn't be about whether they look similar because they do. IT'S A FREAKING PHONE (not a laptop, not a tablet, not a TV, etc...) Only so many variations exist. It's about whether Samsung purposefully designed and marketed to confuse customers into thinking it's an iPhone, and that should be a lot harder to prove.
The suit shouldn't be about whether they look similar because they do. IT'S A FREAKING PHONE (not a laptop, not a tablet, not a TV, etc...) Only so many variations exist. It's about whether Samsung purposefully designed and marketed to confuse customers into thinking it's an iPhone, and that should be a lot harder to prove.
106 months ago
The visual differences between the Samsung phone and the iPhone are indeed quite small. So in this case it's quite clear that Samsung is selling nearly the same phone and riding the wave of iPhone's popularity.
106 months ago
These threads are always such a disaster with the FB's putting on their IP expert hats and having a blind hack at sounding intelligent.
106 months ago
It's not just about the grid of icons. Everything's the same.
Everything ? Seems to me you've never used the Galaxy S line.
The dots for the multiple home screens (although at the top instead of the bottom - wow what a huge difference),
The dots also have a page number and don't just light up when they are active, they become bigger. They absolutely aren't the same except for the fact they are round.
the bottom bar with fixed icons
Which if anything is a copy of the myriad of existing UIs for computers with icon docks (take your pick...).
the phone design/form factor
Which Galaxy S phone ? The i9000 ? Nope, it's form factor is different, especially the back. The Epic ? The Vibrant ? The Captivate ? The Fascinate ? Nope, because those don't even look like iPhones...
home button positioning
Which model ? And did you notice the capacitive buttons on each side ? And the shape that is different ?
, even the chrome ring around the screen is repeated although grey instead of chrome.
It's shape is different. It's color is different.
I have to side with Apple here, I can't imagine Samsung having designed this without taking a good look at the iPhone.
Only because you've believed the media hype about this whole story. Do a little research.
106 months ago
You do realize Apple is the customer and Samsung needs Apple's money a lot more then Apple needs Samsungs parts. apple can replace Samsung, there is no other customer for Samsung to sell these parts to, they will have to cut jobs and retool.
Yes, I imagine all those iPhones and Pads working splendidly without their silicon chips.
106 months ago
The LG KE850 is the Prada. An unofficial leaked photo of the KE850 showed up on tech rumour sites three weeks before Apple officially took the wraps off of the final version of the iPhone (January 9, 2007). The iPhone shipped in the US on June 9th as it required FCC approval and Apple being secretive (paranoid) didn't want to send the FCC the device until it had been officially announced publicly.
An official LG press release showing nothing more than an image of the KE850 appeared on January 18, 2007. So far, I have been unable to locate any firm actual ship dates on the device, but a second, revised version shipped in October. I'm still trying to find the article where I originally read it, but evidently the UI changed on the second version to more closely resemble the UI of the iPhone. I'm still looking.
It is pretty obvious that both companies were heading in similar directions at the same time. Clearly LG must have had a spy in Apple's labs! (Kidding!) Comparing both devices in photos and video footage, today's touch screen phones easily resemble the iPhone over the KE850 in both appearance, UI and functionality, but the KE850 looked pretty decent.
So... I still have not seen proof of anything like the iPhone that clearly pre-dates it. Again, I'm not claiming that Apple invents everything cool and I'm not saying Apple does no wrong. I further agree that it is entirely possible for competing companies to be working on similar projects at the same time. That said I still maintain that todays smart phones very closely resemble Apple's iPhone over anything else.
An official LG press release showing nothing more than an image of the KE850 appeared on January 18, 2007. So far, I have been unable to locate any firm actual ship dates on the device, but a second, revised version shipped in October. I'm still trying to find the article where I originally read it, but evidently the UI changed on the second version to more closely resemble the UI of the iPhone. I'm still looking.
It is pretty obvious that both companies were heading in similar directions at the same time. Clearly LG must have had a spy in Apple's labs! (Kidding!) Comparing both devices in photos and video footage, today's touch screen phones easily resemble the iPhone over the KE850 in both appearance, UI and functionality, but the KE850 looked pretty decent.
So... I still have not seen proof of anything like the iPhone that clearly pre-dates it. Again, I'm not claiming that Apple invents everything cool and I'm not saying Apple does no wrong. I further agree that it is entirely possible for competing companies to be working on similar projects at the same time. That said I still maintain that todays smart phones very closely resemble Apple's iPhone over anything else.
[ Read All Comments ]
Elevation Lab, known for its line of popular iPhone charging docks, today released the FamilyCharger, a multi-charging setup designed to allow you to charge all of your devices in one place.
The...
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming macOS Catalina update to its public beta testing group, two weeks after seeding the second public beta and a day after seeding the fourth developer...
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming tvOS 13 update to its public beta testing group, two weeks after seeding the second public beta and day after seeding the fourth developer beta of...
Apple today began selling an updated version of the Rotor Riot wired game controller for iPhone and iPad through its online store. The new model features a redesigned directional pad, a built-in...
Los Angeles FC fans can now order food and drinks ahead of time directly on their iPhones at the Banc of California Stadium.
The MLS team has partnered with artificial intelligence platform...
An escalating trade war between Japan and South Korea could make Chinese manufacturer BOE Technology a "strong contender" for OLED display orders from Apple, according to industry sources who...
iPhone loyalty has hit its lowest level since 2011 and Samsung has been the main benefactor, claims a new survey conducted by trade-in service BankMyCell.
The survey, cited by CNET, tracked...
Sky: Children of the Light, by Journey developer thatgamecompany, is now available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Its release follows last year's launch of the beta version of the game, titled...
