Galaxy Tab Banned in Europe

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Maybe that is Apple's big announcement in September, they are becoming a patent trolling company.

Or maybe they're going to announce that they will continue to seek legal redress against those who would steal from them and then...leave it up to the judges to decide.

[Dylrob]

The original Touch also had a radically different design. The corners aren't equally rounded. The glass doesn't go edge to edge (it's not even flush). There is a metal rim, but it's not visible from the front. The screen isn't centered. And it doesn't display colorful icons when turned on.

[kjk]

Design patents in particular seem pretty tough to defend, esp. if they are overly broad, or describe features that seem pretty obvious. I don't know if Samsung's designs will be found as such-but I'm curious what people think about this product:


(Jay-Tech was also recently targeted by Apple as well)

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by kjk

Nothing about that device, and I mean NOTHING, should make people think about an Apple product.

Nothing.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

The original Touch also had a radically different design. The corners aren't equally rounded. The glass doesn't go edge to edge (it's not even flush). There is a metal rim, but it's not visible from the front. The screen isn't centered. And it doesn't display colorful icons when turned on.

The glass was flush -- which was the real technological innovation at that point. I guess it had one of the earliest iterations of HTC Sense, so there were colorful icons, too. A centered screen goes back to the Treo 270/300 and early HP PDAs some of which were all touch screens. I had the HP 6350 which had a detachable keyboard. Usually buttons were kept only for gamers, which wanted the buttons to control movements, rather than on screen ones like on the O2 Flame. All evolutionary, based on advances in production technology.

[joenunya]

ummmm, the glass to the edge is simply the result of being able to produce glass that is durable enough. The reason it was never done before is that simple, it was too expensive and there would have been durability questions. Though to be fair Corning (visit the Corning Glass Museum site sometime, it's interesting) has been able to make glass similar to Gorilla Glass for nearly 100 years but it too had too many compromises and expenses to be commercially viable until the past decade or so.

Here is an old formula notebook of a very famous glass chemist, Emmet E. Olson.
http://www.rubystainmuseum.com/formulas.html

Direct download: http://www.rubystainmuseum.com/heise...onograph38.pdf
(HARRY: It's a legal download so don't worry your pretty little head about it.)

It's an interesting read if you enjoy that sort of thing.

Back to the topic, the idea of edge to edge glass in an inevitable evolution of the design mating with the glass technology and manufacturing refinements. It is nothing innovative by Apple or any other device maker.

And don't forget, Vulcans invented Velcro!! So who is to say they did not invent edge to edge glass and Jobs is all wet behind his ears. Hmmmmmm, Jobs does have some rather odd ears, doesn't he? Might explain the mystery illness, it was really in order to provide a plausible excuse for his now no longer odd internal organ structure and layout.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

The glass was flush -- which was the real technological innovation at that point. I guess it had one of the earliest iterations of HTC Sense, so there were colorful icons, too. A centered screen goes back to the Treo 270/300 and early HP PDAs some of which were all touch screens. I had the HP 6350 which had a detachable keyboard. Usually buttons were kept only for gamers, which wanted the buttons to control movements, rather than on screen ones like on the O2 Flame. All evolutionary, based on advances in production technology.

The screen on the Treo certainly wasn't centered on both axes. And even if an early device had one of these characteristics, that's not really all that important. It's the fact that the Samsung shares all these design elements in common. Especially when other Android devices don't have all these elements.

[RockdaMan]

Another new Apple patent:

a much more effective way of keeping fingerprints off your touchscreen devices.

Keeping fingerprints off of a device has been done already. It's obvious. No need for a patent. Anyone should be able to do whatever it is they are patenting.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

I don't really know enough about German law in this area to have much of an informed opinion, but after reading the petition for a preliminary injunction (which you can find here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/61993811/1...alaxy-Tab-10-1), I am a little more convinced that Apple might have a case. The petition (which has photos) describes seven particular aspects of the iPads design:
1. It is a rectangle with 4 equally rounded corners.
2. The surface is covered edge-to-edge by a flat, clear surface.
3. There is a metal rim visible around the edge of the surface.
4. The display is centered under the clear surface.
5. There is a pronounced, evenly spaced bezel around the display and underneath the clear surface.
6. When the product is turned on, there are colorful icons on the display.
The petition also notes that the galaxy tab copied the distinctively thin profile of the iPad 2.

Taken individually, I don't think that any of these design elements are particularly unique, but it is striking that the Tab has all of them. Especially if you compare its design to something like the Acer Iconia (10" or 7").

I don't know whether Samsung copied so much as to violate Apple's IP - but it does seem obvious that they did copy some design features of the iPad which are not inherent to all tablets.

That sounds like a 'copyright' claim, not a Patent claim. Has a Display behind an opaque lens: weighs: xxx

Patents are supposed to be about UNIQUE, non-obvious processes or resulting objects.

Look and feel patents are just wrong.

BTW Theducks has his (real) name on a patent.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by theducks

That sounds like a 'copyright' claim

It is.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

Another new Apple patent:



Keeping fingerprints off of a device has been done already. It's obvious. No need for a patent. Anyone should be able to do whatever it is they are patenting.

The oleophobic coating on the iPhone 3GS is great-I kinda wish they had been a bit more generous with it on the iPads.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

Another new Apple patent:



Keeping fingerprints off of a device has been done already. It's obvious. No need for a patent. Anyone should be able to do whatever it is they are patenting.

They aren't patenting the idea of reducing fingerprints, but rather a method of accomplishing this. Some problems have more than one solution.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

They aren't patenting the idea of reducing fingerprints, but rather a method of accomplishing this. Some problems have more than one solution.

I was being sarcastic...a response to those who cry 'obvious!' and 'prior art'!

My grandmother had a way of preventing smudges on her windows too.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

I was being sarcastic...a response to those who cry 'obvious!' and 'prior art'!

My grandmother had a way of preventing smudges on her windows too.

Ah. Well sarcasm on the internet is like winking on a phone call.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

Ah. Well sarcasm on the internet is like winking on a phone call.

*steals that saying and runs off*