As we've noted in a number of reports in recent months, Apple and Samsung are currently engaged in a high-stakes intellectual property battle, with Apple seeking injunctions in a number of countries to prevent Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab and other Android-based products. Apple claims that Samsung has infringed upon Apple's intellectual property rights by copying the designs of popular Apple devices such as the iPhone and iPad.
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In a curious turn of events noted by FOSS Patents, Samsung has turned to the film industry in its defense against Apple's request for an injunction in the United States.
According to court filings, Samsung has presented a scene from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey as evidence of prior art that should invalidate Apple's design claims on the iPad. From the filing:
Attached hereto as Exhibit D is a true and correct copy of a still image taken from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey." In a clip from that film lasting about one minute, two astronauts are eating and at the same time using personal tablet computers. The clip can be downloaded online at //www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ8pQVDyaLo. As with the design claimed by the D’889 Patent, the tablet disclosed in the clip has an overall rectangular shape with a dominant display screen, narrow borders, a predominately flat front surface, a flat back surface (which is evident because the tablets are lying flat on the table's surface), and a thin form factor.
The patent in question is a design patent covering the ornamental design of the iPad, with Apple claiming that the Samsung Galaxy Tab is substantially identical to that design. By pointing to an example of a similar design made public in 1968, even if not an actual functioning tablet device, Samsung hopes to demonstrate that there is little variation possible when designing a tablet and show that the general concept used by Apple for the iPad has actually been circulating for decades.
Top Rated Comments
TAB10.1: I'm sorry Steve, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Steve: What's the problem?
TAB10.1: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Steve: What are you talking about, TAB?
TAB10.1: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Kudos to Samsung's lawyers, I don't think you can get more prior than that.
OTOH - I love seeing disputes coming up against prior art from science fiction. It's a reassuring thing to see that the predicted future of the past is coming true. :)
If a competitive device has literally the exact same dimensions, curves, and materials as the iPad... that's one thing. But you can't patent a 10" x 7" x .3" device, and sue companies for using anything close to those dimensions.
In some respects, I think Apple is a great company. Then they try to patent the dimensions of their devices, or phrases like App Store... and I'm reminded that they're just as bad as the rest.