Dieter Rams and Over 100 Top Designers Support Apple in Longstanding Samsung Lawsuit

Samsung_LogoCalvin Klein, Dieter Rams, Norman Foster, and over 100 of the world's leading design professionals have filed a lengthy amicus brief [PDF] in support of Apple in an over five year old patent lawsuit against rival Samsung.

Apple was awarded nearly $1 billion in damages in 2012 after Samsung was found to have copied the "look and feel" of the iPhone, but a significant part of the decision was reversed in 2015, leaving Samsung owing $548 million -- a sum that Samsung has paid but continues to appeal. The patent lawsuit began back in 2011 and has since made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Apple is fighting for it to remain.

coca-colaThe design professionals, which have collectively provided services to Apple, American Airlines, Coca-Cola, Ford, General Electric, GM, Google, IBM, Knoll, Lenovo, LG, Louis Vuitton, NASA, Nike, Polaroid, Porsche, Starbucks, Target, Xerox, and even Samsung itself, among others, believe that Apple is entitled to all profits that Samsung has earned from copying patented designs.

The designers argued that a product's visual design has "powerful effects on the human mind and decision making processes," citing a 1949 study that showed more than 99% of Americans could identify a bottle of Coca-Cola by shape alone. The amicus brief further states that "successful technology companies use design to differentiate themselves from competitors."

Top Rated Comments

keysofanxiety Avatar
93 months ago
Good. I'd love to jump into an alternate universe and show them how Samsung phones would look in 2016 had it not been for Apple.

Samsung are historically a company that steal design, functionality, features, make bagloads of profit, and then glue the lawsuits in redtape for years -- until it's not a financial hit for them to pay the fine, as they've made all the money already.

We're not just talking about Apple of course. Kodak, SHARP, Dyson... the list goes on and on and on.
Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
93 months ago
so well fnanced and lawyer'd up that fighting them would be pointless. The big firms thrive on intimidating others.
Congratulations on identifying Samsung's part in this case.

The rest of what you've written couldn't be further from the truth. Have a look at the simple facts.

Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
93 months ago

Notice the lawsuit was for copying things like rounded corners and rubber bounce scroll feature. Yeah it looks like these were copied but should they be stuff that is patentable?
Right, but wrong. The lawsuit contained these items, though was not the flagship of the case. That is part of the larger picture; namely, the look and feel of the product. There were hundereds of other software and hardware patents which were being disputed.

Let's also not forget that the 'look and feel' extended to:

Chargers




Packaging


So many other things. Operating system icons, etc.

Come on people, thinking Samsung are in the wrong here does not mean you think Apple are in the right about all similar cases.

You can despise Apple for the same stuff. You can even hate Apple and never want one of their products. But open your eyes here. Samsung are flagrant rip-off merchants.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BigJayhawk Avatar
93 months ago
So blatantly obvious. Nothing at Samsung looked like an iPhone UNTIL the iPhone. Then everything "smart-phone-wise" looked like an iPhone AFTER iPhone.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
93 months ago
Hate to pop your bubble, but Apple didn't patent the screen.

And what came out of those Samsung prototypes? Exactly, exactly what you would expect for a company at that time.

They weren't prototypes of full touchscreen phones. They were just prototypes of slider phones. Prototypes of phones that Nokia already had released in the market, by the way.



Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dave245 Avatar
93 months ago
I don't know what the problem is with this, it's clear that Samsung copied the iPhone design, Apple were awarded $1Billion and that's what they should of got.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 16 Mock Header With Dynamic Island

Skipping the iPhone 15 Pro? Here's What's Rumored for iPhone 16 Pro

Friday September 22, 2023 9:29 am PDT by
Are you skipping the iPhone 15 Pro and waiting another year to upgrade? If so, we already have some iPhone 16 Pro rumors for you. Below, we recap new features rumored for the iPhone 16 Pro models so far:Larger displays: The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be equipped with larger 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch displays, respectively, according to Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain...
Update Your iPhone 15 to iOS 17

Warning: Update Your iPhone 15 to iOS 17.0.2 Before Transferring Data From Another iPhone

Friday September 22, 2023 6:36 am PDT by
If you are unboxing an iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, or iPhone 15 Pro Max today, make sure to update the device to iOS 17.0.2 before transferring data to the device from another iPhone, or else you might encounter issues. iOS 17.0.2 is only available for the iPhone 15 lineup. Apple says the update fixes an issue that may prevent transferring data directly from another iPhone...
iOS 17

Apple Releases iOS 17.0.1 and iPadOS 17.0.1 With Bug Fixes, Plus iOS 17.0.2 for iPhone 15 Models

Thursday September 21, 2023 10:28 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 17.0.1 and iPadOS 17.0.1 updates for the iPhone and the iPad, adding bug fixes to the new software. The iOS 17.0.1 and iPadOS 17.0.1 updates come just a few days after Apple launched iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. The software, which is build 21A340, can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. There is a...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 double tap gesture 230912

watchOS 10.1 to Enable Apple Watch's New 'Double Tap' Gesture

Thursday September 21, 2023 12:52 pm PDT by
The new Double Tap gesture for the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 will be enabled starting with watchOS 10.1, according to Marques Brownlee, host of the popular tech-focused YouTube channel MKBHD. The first beta of watchOS 10.1 will likely be available by next week, and Apple announced that the software update will be released next month. Brownlee shared his impressions...