Apple v Samsung: Can Look and Feel Be Patented?

[Top100EbooksRank]

Another design Apple is trying to patent.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by 5thWiggle

Design patents are for ornamentation or style of a functional object in a particular context. For instance, I could design a TV, slap a pair of angel wings on it, and get a design patent. I could stop others from producing TVs with angel wings (and possibly monitors, tablets and digital picture frames) because the angel wings are the ornamentation or style, while TV or digital display are the context. I could not stop someone from selling sofas with angel wings, that would be out of context. The context is almost as important as the design. You can get a design patent on a computer icon, lets say a pencil icon for edit. The context is a computer UI, so you could stop MS or Apple from using a pencil icon of the same or similar style in Windows or OSX. The computer UI as a context is new to design patents.

There is no doubt that this TV (it was a family of models) was different from all others (I knew someone who had one) and deserved a Patent .

[Top100EbooksRank]

what about a round tablet?

I bet someone have tried to patent that...

Who know. There might be a niche market for it.

[ScotiaBurrell]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Another design Apple is trying to patent.

Another:

Description: CLAIM We claim the ornamental design for a media device, substantially as shown and described.

Description: We claim the ornamental design for a staircase, substantially as shown and described.

More here: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...ref=technology

[5thWiggle]

Originally Posted by theducks

There is no doubt that this TV (it was a family of models) was different from all others (I knew someone who had one) and deserved a Patent .

They got one.

[ScotiaBurrell]

Both Apple and Samsung, who are in the beginning phases of a month-long patent trial here, were awaiting a decision on what U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh would do about a spat between the two companies stemming from excluded evidence Samsung sent out to press.

Judge Koh put that to the test this morning, bringing jurors out one at a time, asking if they had heard any news about the trial, and re-affirming that they could be fair and impartial.

Most jurors told Koh they hadn't heard anything about it.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57...enty-of-drama/

[ScotiaBurrell]

Apple has just released several exhibits that it plans to enter into evidence that allegedly show the evolution of Samsung's handsets before and after the launch of the iPhone.

Apple entered similar exhibits into evidence earlier but was required to change them after Samsung raised objections, arguing they give a false impression.

Samsung has acknowledged being inspired by the iPhone but has told the court that every electronics manufacturer, including Apple, is influenced by its competitors.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57...h-into-iphone/



after:

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by Top100EbooksRank

what about a round tablet?

I bet someone have tried to patent that...

Who know. There might be a niche market for it.

Hmmmmm... What you are describing is a crystal ball.

It could be done. You would have two hemispherical displays, with the brains of the computer in the center. You then screw the two displays together to make a sphere. You could unscrew it when you needed to charge it up. You could put a USB port at the bottom of it, but that would sacrifice some of the display surface. I can think of one use for it. Globes. You could make it be a globe of whatever you wanted, the Earth, the Moon, Mars, etc. You could use it to study weather patterns on a globe instead of a flat display. And people would make games for it.

[ScotiaBurrell]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

two hemispherical displays, with the brains of the computer in the center. You then screw the two displays together to make a sphere. You could unscrew it when you needed to charge it up. You could put a USB port at the bottom of it, but that would sacrifice some of the display surface. I can think of one use for it. Globes. You could make it be a globe of whatever you wanted, the Earth, the Moon, Mars, etc. You could use it to study weather patterns on a globe instead of a flat display. And people would make games for it.

my lawyer and me just submitted a patent app for this.

[MovieBird]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

You could make it be a globe of whatever you wanted, the Earth, the Moon, Mars, etc. You could use it to study weather patterns on a globe instead of a flat display. And people would make games for it.

I can see it now... Tracking Shai-Hulud across the surface of Dune while directing your Fremen army towards victory in Kralizec...

[kennyc]

I'm going to patent air!

[ScotiaBurrell]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I'm going to patent air!

Just did that too.

And the process of taking into the lungs. Your life is in violation. Pay up or stop using my process!

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

If you want to follow this case try reading http://www.groklaw.net according to them Samsung had every right to release the evidence. And if the judge sanction them over it Samsung could get a mistrial.

Don't waste your time with Groklaw if you are interested in an unbiased analysis of the trial. They are FOSS advocates, which is fine, but their trial coverage reflects that bias.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by ScotiaBurrell

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57...h-into-iphone/



after:

Now without your iPhone-tinted glasses. These are some of Samsung's summer 2006 phone line-up (the iPhone was released in 2007):



Another one:

[ScotiaBurrell]

More than rectangles. (turn those phones in post up of this one on and show us ui)

It’s a memo that Samsung didn’t want admitted into the trial, and until now had kept it out. But this morning, when Samsung legal counsel John Quinn mentioned the “crisis of design” moment in a question to Samsung strategist Justin Denison, all bets were off, and the memo was in.

“Influential figures outside the company come across the iPhone, and they point out that ‘Samsung is dozing off.’ All this time we’ve been paying all our attention to Nokia, and concentrated our efforts on things like Folder, Bar, Slide,” Shin wrote. “Yet when our UX is compared to the unexpected competitor Apple’s iPhone, the difference is truly that of Heaven and Earth. It’s a crisis of design.”

“When everybody (both consumers and the industry) talk about UX, they weigh it against the iPhone. The iPhone has become the standard. That’s how things are already.”

“Do you know how difficult the Omnia is to use? When you compare the 2007 version of the iPhone with our current Omnia, can you honestly say the Omnia is better? If you compare the UX with the iPhone, it’s a difference between Heaven and Earth.”

http://allthingsd.com/20120806/iphon...-samsung-memo/