Google Looks to Distance Android from Apple vs. Samsung Ruling

Sunday August 26, 2012 10:16 pm PDT by Eric Slivka
The Verge reports that Google has officially responded to Friday's ruling in the Apple vs. Samsung case that saw a jury award Apple over $1 billion in deciding that Samsung had infringed upon Apple's patents and trade dress.

In its statement, Google attempts to distance itself from the controversy somewhat, indicating that most of the issues addressed in the trial do not relate to Android itself. The issues instead deal with Samsung's specific software implementations and its hardware design decisions. Google writes:
The court of appeals will review both infringement and the validity of the patent claims. Most of these don't relate to the core Android operating system, and several are being re-examined by the US Patent Office. The mobile industry is moving fast and all players - including newcomers - are building upon ideas that have been around for decades. We work with our partners to give consumers innovative and affordable products, and we don't want anything to limit that.
Some of the key pieces of evidence weighing in Apple's favor in the jury's mind were in fact 2010 memos and conversations between Google and Samsung that included Google "demanding" Samsung make changes in its implementation of Android over concerns that it was too similar to Apple's iOS. From one internal Samsung email describing Google's concerns:
“I am notifying you of the team leader’s directives from the executives’ meeting yesterday,” the message begins. The sixth item on the list addresses a need to “respond to the issue of design similarity for the S series,” which Samsung designer Kim Jin Soo testified was a reference to the company’s S series of smartphones.

“Google is demanding distinguishable design vis-à-vis the iPad,” according to the e-mail. “Consider design distinguishability for the items demanded by Google while maintaining the current design, and in regards to each carrier’s demands.”
With the Korea Stock Exchange having just opened for trading for the first time since the ruling, Samsung's stock is currently trading down 7%. Apple's stock rose nearly 2% in after hours trading Friday following the ruling.

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appleguy123
98 months ago
Android phones before iPhone


Android Phones after iPhone

Rating: 61 Votes
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viperGTS
98 months ago
I'd distance my OS too if I knew it stole a ton from Apple's. :rolleyes:
Rating: 46 Votes
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WatchTheThrone
98 months ago

Android phones before iPhone
Image (http://devilsworkshop.org/files/2012/05/Android_preiPhone.png)

Android Phones after iPhone

Image (http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/10/nexusgalaxy.jpg)


Looks like Android was copying blackberry before it decided to copy the iPhone OS ;)
Rating: 41 Votes
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ouimetnick
98 months ago
Microsoft is creating a nice mobile OS. WebOS was a nice OS. They both did it with out copying apple.
Rating: 38 Votes
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iChrist
98 months ago
Question now is will Apple innovate again? iOS has been same for 5 years. Boring.
Rating: 34 Votes
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jake0112
98 months ago
Can you imagine what they'd be saying if Samsung won?

Google: We are proud to see this verdict in favour of Samsung. It shows that the jury were willing to hear the argument that Apples monopoly on patents should be recognised as industry patents, and that developers and manufacturers in the Android community can "innovate" without the threat of a legal action. This is a good day for Samsung, Google and other Android device manufacturers.


.. What a different ball game that would be.
Rating: 23 Votes
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monkor
98 months ago
The issue itself didn't even have to do with the Android OS; it had to do with Samsung's blatant copying of iOS with their TouchWiz skin and the designs of phones which clearly copied the iPhone. They were rightfully reprimanded, and Google just made the distinction that Apple's beef (this time, at least) had nothing to do with the core OS.

Previously, I thought Apple was acting like a whiny little kid, but then I realized that by copying and not innovating their way to the top, Samsung hurt the consumer in more ways than one. You don't see HTC getting sued, because their Sense skin and designs are unique/innovative. Yet HTC is being shafted in overall market share because Samsung's copycat phones are selling like hotcakes. It's disappointing, to say the least. Same goes for Motorola, whose RAZR Maxx has fantastic battery life and truly helped all companies in maximizing the battery potential in smart phones. Yet they're falling behind further still in market share, making it harder and harder to compete.

Google does innovate. Android is not a shot for shot copy of iOS, and they both steal ideas from one another in order to (hopefully) better implement them. Apple may indirectly go at Google via their handset makers, but attacking the OS itself isn't likely to work. Android is here to stay, and people should want it that way.
Rating: 23 Votes
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koruki
98 months ago

Question now is will Apple innovate again? iOS has been same for 5 years. Boring.


I bought a S3 and used it for a week, now I know why iOS has been the same for so long cause to change things just to be different makes for a horrible user experience.
Rating: 22 Votes
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Dolorian
98 months ago

Google is THE most evil company on earth (it was a close 2nd for Facebook). It is Google that should have taken the torpedo. If there was no Android there would be no Samsung device running it. Eric Schmidt was a "trojan" on the Apple Board sucking up the ideas and then quitting the board after he had everything he needed to build "his own iPhone/iOS".


Misinformed much? :rolleyes:
Rating: 14 Votes
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AppleScruff1
98 months ago

Android phones before iPhone
Image (http://devilsworkshop.org/files/2012/05/Android_preiPhone.png)

Android Phones after iPhone

Image (http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/10/nexusgalaxy.jpg)


Except that the look of the phone has nothing to do with the operating system, does it? :rolleyes:
Rating: 13 Votes

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