Comments on: Apple vs. Samsung: Everything Changes, Everything Stays the Same

By: Edward (Butch) Arri

Edward (Butch) Arri — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:10:00 +0000

Pictures of the LG Prada were circulated in tech rumor news sites as the iPhone was released, but there was no actual workable model made available to anyone until after the iPhone was actually released. You can check with EnGadget and their editors that actually tested the poor functioning early version of the phone to get the straight dope on the time line of the development of that iPhone knock-off. Multiple companies, probably including LG got all kinds of illegal parts, pictures and design blueprints in the same ways rumor sites have been able to illegally acquire pre-production iPhone pictures since the beginning. It’s foolish to think rumor websites have had exclusive access to the contraband or even that rumor sites got the lions share of illegally acquired photos, parts etc. I’ve said this before and I hope Apple does it this time around; Apple should offer a million dollars + to any and all people involved in selling pictures, parts, plans to electronics manufacturers from the early to mid 2000′s to the release of the iPhone. As to your Jeff Han assertion, I was a grad. student at NYU when Han was there, on Apple’s payroll with Apple funding a chunk of his research attempting to develop gestures which they transplanted to the iPhone which required completely different engineering requirements than a “Touch Table.” It was Han’s pre-iPhone association with Apple that got him on TED to begin with. Moreover the developers of “FingerWorks” owned the most significant multi-touch patents, were the pioneers of the technology and Apple bought them and all of their patents I’m failry certain Han’s research was derivative of John Elias and Wayne Westerman’s work whether he’s willing to admit that or not.

By: kel

kel — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 16:24:00 +0000

I’ve had an iphone for the past two years. I’ve been seriously thinking of upgrading my phone to the iphone 5 when it comes out. But now after all this I’m seriously considering if I should instead buy a non-apple product.

By: kelsey

kelsey — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 16:15:00 +0000

Do you expect samsung to still make bar phones with minimal features? Things change with advances in technology. With touchcscreen technology, came the bigger screens. So is samsung supposed to make their phones round or some other ridiculous shape because the apple has come out with the rounded rectangular one. Ridiculous. I agree that the icons and display interface is somewhat similar, but not 1.2billion similar.

By: Good ol' JS

Good ol' JS — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 18:50:00 +0000

A better supplement for pinch to zoom. Every time you need to zoom in on an app, grab the nearest iPhone user and throw him/her out a window. This problem will solve itself within a month

By: Phill

Phill — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 08:37:00 +0000

Looking at below comments its easy to see who is an apple fanboy, or android fanboy spouting close-minded views based on their blindly devoted fanboy mindset. I’m sure each new generation of fanboy is worse than the last.
With that out of the way, I have to say, who the heck “okays” some of these obviously obsurd patents? The patent office is a disgrace to innovation when cases like this between apple, and samsung happen. I personally don’t agree with apple going through with this, but I blame the patent office for making it possible.
One way to look at it is, maybe Americans will get some of their money back from the Asians XD
I can’t wait to see what these companies, and others come up with next, because healthy competition produces innovation, and new advances that benefit all consumers, which is the most important thing at the end of the day.

By: John doe

John doe — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 04:46:00 +0000

The Issue at hand is Samsungs “TouchWiz” UI. Had they listened to Google and tone it down or better yet go Pure Android this would never have happened. Live and learn Samsung or any other OEM/UI designers out there.

Pure Android rules, all the way.

By: Jermaine Walker

Jermaine Walker — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 11:42:00 +0000

Although I have only really been on-board with Android starting with ICS, I really believe that, to a layperson, Android *looks like* it is aping Apple more than actually it is. I would allow that it was probably due in part to the frenzy surrounding the original iPhone’s release [and Android's subsequent decision to use a 4x4 grid of icons]. But the 4×4 grid thing is probably my least favorite part of Android [and iOS, come to think of it], and could have been avoided altogether, in my opinion. Android really comes to life when you leave the standard home screen ideology and start setting things the way that you want them.

By: Jordan Dietrich

Jordan Dietrich — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:43:00 +0000

This would be valid if it weren’t for the fact that several Samsung phones were cited for violating trade dress, which literally resulted in damages being paid because the fronts of their phones look too much like the iPhone’s did, which makes the statement @28de32cbe9200c9f744e94ed5a2a1c18:disqus made valid. According to Cnet, the Jury found the following list of phones infringed patent D’677, which covers only the physical aspects of the front of the phone, specifically the flat screen and bevel around the edge:

Epic 4G TouchFascinateGalaxy SGalaxy S 4GGalaxy S ShowcaseGalaxy S II (AT&T)Galaxy S II (T-Mobile)Galaxy S II (Unlocked)Galaxy S II SkyrocketInfuse 4GMesmerizeVibrant

By: candidview

candidview — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 19:30:00 +0000

Even as an Apple product user myself, it’s really hard to support you because it does not provide and hard facts or empirical data. BTW, have you heard of the terms “selective memory”, “convenient truth”, and “double standards”? To start with, check out LG Prada phone (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada ) and TED session on multi-touch technology (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcKqyn-gUbY) and decide for yourself as to who copied who and who really deserves patents.

By: Philip Chan

Philip Chan — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:40:00 +0000

$1,000,000,000 claim thats $5,250,000,000, and only for the 2nd quarter.
What can we call these people? Vampires? Robbers? Leeches? Or is it the
same Devil who gave Eve the Apple? So they’ve been fooling us since the
time of Adam and Eve? They have fooled 17,000,000 this quarter alone
and wants to fool more, killing any competitor who comes their way. Its time we seek the help of the Angels from Heaven!

By: Guest

Guest — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:36:00 +0000

All Apple products are overpriced and over rated. I never thought of buying a tablet until the Samsung Galaxy Pad2 models came out. They are very reasonably priced for its features. I read that Apple sold 17,000,000 units with almost 30% mark up and at
an average of $250 profit margin, that’s $4,250,000,000. Add to this the
$1,000,000,000 claim thats $5,250,000,000, and only for the 2nd
quarter. What can we call these people? Vampires? Robbers? Leeches? Or is it the same Devil who gave Eve the Apple? So they’ve been fooling us since the time of Adam and Eve? They have fooled 17,000,000 this quarter alone and wants to fool more, killing any
competitor who comes their way. Then its about time that we seek help
from the angels from Heaven.

By: Guest

Guest — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:26:00 +0000

I read that Apple sold
17,000,000 units with almost 30% mark up and at an average of $250 profit margin, that’s
$4,250,000,000. Add to this the $1,000,000,000 claim thats
$5,250,000,000, and only for the 2nd quarter. What can we call these people?
Vampires? Robbers? Leeches? Or is it the same Devil who gave Eve the Apple? So
they’ve been fooling us since the time of Adam and Eve? They have fooled
17,000,000 this quarter alone and wants to fool more, killing any competitor who comes
their way. Then its about time that we seek help from the angels from Heaven.

By: Edward (Butch) Arri

Edward (Butch) Arri — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 15:09:00 +0000

The reality is that once someone spends a couple of years designing anything original their next step is to protect it. If Samsung had designed anything they claimed to have designed they would have had the thousands and thousands of patents and Apple would have been telling people their phone design was inspired by bowl of water like Samsung did…LOL

By: Edward (Butch) Arri

Edward (Butch) Arri — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 15:02:00 +0000

Samsung hasn’t innovated squat in the last year. All they did was have apps opened permanently calling them UIs unto themselves and then use a copied implementation of “Cover Flow” to shift between those so the totally ripped off iOS home screen copy isn’t always front and center calling attention to itself as a slavishly copied version of the iOS.

By: KS

KS — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 13:57:00 +0000

Take a look at PDA designs (Palm, Sony, Compaq, HP) from around 2001 to 2007 and let me know if they resemble iPhones. Apple put a cell radio in a PDA and called it innovation. PDAs had email, apps, games, 3 to 4 inch LCD displays, square designs.

By: GreedsApple

GreedsApple — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 22:38:00 +0000

its actually surprising that the jurors awarded Apple the case.Its a crime that a company can patent stupid things like curves and the way a menu is displayed…the menu that Apple stole from UNIX. Apple shouldn’t have been allowed to patent designs based on freeware and open source in the first place. I sure would like companies that Apple depend on to cease doing Business with this monster and we will see how far Apple can go on its own patents

By: f0l3y

f0l3y — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 22:04:00 +0000

The reason the jury decided to give victor to Apple is simple. They were shown smartphone devices that Samsung made before the original iPhone was released in 2007 and then devices after the iPhone was released. There is quite a huge difference and coping the look of the iPhone is obvious. Apple intelligently patented for the very reason of protecting their property under law. Samsung was arguing innovation. I don’t believe Apple claimed to have invented everything about the iPhone but they did patent what made the iPhone very unique when it was released. For this the jury awarded a little over 1 billion dollars. Significantly less than the 2.5 Apple was asking for. The reason for 1 billion is not to substantially hurt Samsung but to encourage them to alter their designs to make themselves more unique from their competition. Microsoft didn’t want any part of a copyright scandal and have an agreement with Apple. Exactly why windows phones are vastly different in appearance. I highly doubt Samsung will have to remove any devices from shelves. Competition will remain. Samsung was recorded stating a manufacturer shouldn’t be allowed to have a monopoly because of rounded rectangles and boxes but last time I checked Samsung was the worlds largest mobile phone manufacturer. Don’t really think they should be complaining considering the recent success they are having.

By: Josua Mudreilagi

Josua Mudreilagi — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 21:28:00 +0000

Good piece. We are always forgetting the consumer. Corporations can spend millions on lawsuits, patents, etc, a the end of the day the consumer makes the final choice on which smartphone he/she can afford, satisfy his/her needs.

By: Eli Presas

Eli Presas — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 18:08:00 +0000

Android doesnt suck, its just your phone that sucks, and dont say ‘oh well it should work’ maybe if you spent money on a phone instead of looking for a killer deal, free cheapy phones, then you would be happy,because trust me, iOS and Android 4.0+ are pretty much even, at this point its almost like Xbox vs PS3

By: Eyestein

Eyestein — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 17:15:00 +0000

Thanks, I just patented that. OEMs, I can be reached at (212) 867 5309.

By: Deranger86

Deranger86 — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 16:17:00 +0000

Just love it when delusional fanboys compare a highly-intricate piece of tech like a smartphone to totally inanimate and general piece of non-tech like a wheel.

By: leoevs44

leoevs44 — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 15:08:00 +0000

Apple are cheesed off with samsung cause they can’t keep up with the technology samsung are producing, and considering apples iphone uses samsung components and google software maybe samsung and google should stop letting apple use there products, also as for the pure look or shape of product does anyone remember the samsung tocco, probably one of the first true touchscreens available oh and it was square years before the iphone, apple are just scared stupid because there boring usless gadgets are losing the market for world domination.

By: Ortego Ace

Ortego Ace — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 13:51:00 +0000

Yes indeed. I think It boils down to two major points. On one hand, there are just too many patents for a smartphone, as you mention. Pretty much whatever a designer or an engineer dreams of is patented nowadays which means that a company cannot be completely innovative. Some aspects about a new smartphone will look or feel or behave similarly to what another company has done and companies, in my opinion, should not be punished for that. On the other hand though, I feel like companies tend to copy successful designs, like the one of the iphone and ipad, just because it sells. That cannot be good as far as choice is concerned. Who wants to choose between an ipad or product X and that product’s look alike? I hope Apple’s victory forces some companies to innovate a bit more so we have more innovative designs, like what Nokia did with their poly-carbonate full body designs (that HTC is sort of copying now).

By: Richard Yarrell

Richard Yarrell — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 11:39:00 +0000

Personally APPLE is full of DOG SHIT and so are it’s users. Whatever transpired with this case is something that happened in 2009/2010 which has NOTHING to do with any of the current products samsung has in carrier stores today. Apple/Cupertino are a bunch of cowards and just waited for years thinking they were capitalizing on some which basically added up to nothing. By the time the appeal takes place and even if they ban the old devices which many of them either doesn’t exist any longer or aren’t even being sold today in any carriers store means that this doesn’t matter at all. Samsung will roll on with it’s production of products NEXT UP is the Galaxy Note 2 and upcoming Galaxy Nexus 2 and the BOTTOMLINE here is Apple is just plain envious of what Samsung has going on and truthfully I would be too. Apple products are just plain boring and offer nothing when it comes to true technology. August 29th is the Galaxy Note 2 launch and the way I see it with the current Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Note, and Galaxy S3 all of Samsung products simply shits all over any apple iphone today or tomorrow for that matter.

By: Ole_Rikard

Ole_Rikard — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 10:17:00 +0000

Androide users do not wan’t another walled garden OS. WP is the same as iOS from a business model perspective. On company to dominate the whole value chain.

By: Ajith

Ajith — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 09:35:00 +0000

I don’t see any purpose of this patent war.Think, If graham bell holding the patent for telephone, who will be the big thief?

By: Jim H.

Jim H. — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 09:15:00 +0000

This whole “stealing” meme is way overblown. You cannot call it stealing when it implicates 250,000 patents – yes, 250,000 – just to build a smartphone. It is called operating in a horribly dysfunctional environment filled with intellectual property landmines.

By: Jim H.

Jim H. — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 08:43:00 +0000

It also weirdly would force every touch to be interpreted as starting a zoom.

By: Jim H.

Jim H. — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 08:40:00 +0000

That sounds extremely cumbersome, and it would not allow the user to make real-time micro adjustments to the zoom level. Face it; there aren’t that many GOOD ways to interface with a touch screen.

By: iamchandlerbing

iamchandlerbing — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 07:32:00 +0000

Use magnifying lens.

By: iamchandlerbing

iamchandlerbing — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 07:31:00 +0000

And you have many choices. But nobody should be allowed to steal!

By: iamchandlerbing

iamchandlerbing — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 07:29:00 +0000

Congratulations to the jury. I believe they made the right judgment.

Typing this on my Galaxy Nexus.

By: iamchandlerbing

iamchandlerbing — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 07:28:00 +0000

I’ll still use my Apple devices and my Galaxy Nexus. I don’t like stealers but I like jellybean.

By: iamchandlerbing

iamchandlerbing — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 07:27:00 +0000

The lumia and N9 doesn’t look like any iPhone. Just saying.

By: Baide

Baide — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 05:15:00 +0000

Android OS is owned by Google ; Bada OS is owned Samsung …yes and Google Android sucks big time

By: Jeff Wallace

Jeff Wallace — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 04:49:00 +0000

So….ridiculous has anyone taken a look at lg’s icons on their devices recently but is apple suing lg no Samsung because Samsung has the market share they want not to mention where do you think apple got that new “status bar” from in ios5…hmm could it be Android who has hat it for the past wait let me think oh well forever! Also its funny how they say its so similar to the iPhone but i guarantee that joke of a company Apple 90% of their “genius’s” cant even turn the Bluetooth on or check for a software update on an Android device for the life of them. What a joke Apple is i think there is this thing out there called freedom of choice and Apple needs to suck it up and start changing their ways. They offer mediocre products at ridiculous prices put some idiot on TV with a black tight shirt on surrounded by white walls and call their products innovative i will never purchase an Apple product again how stupid do they look snd sound quit wasting your time in court and go to the drawing board Apple and do something for the consumer for once instead of you’re pockets!

By: kevinkyle

kevinkyle — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 04:45:00 +0000

This is just a minor bump in samsung’s onslaught of astounding t3chnology that everyone can AFFORD (no discrimination between rich or poor ) to enjoy……once samsung gets the workaround (probably in just 4weeks :-)- tops! ______there’s no stopping ANDROID’S Surge!…….IOS can go ballistic for all i care….Go TEAM ANDROID! :-)- samsung, htc, sony, lg, motorola….

By: Appleizbetter

Appleizbetter — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 04:45:00 +0000

Android sucks so bad. My phone is horrible. I hate it. New iPhone for me….

By: gitoffmenuts_google

gitoffmenuts_google — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 04:21:00 +0000

yeah, I tried to get a patent for grotesquely obese ugly woman, but your mom already had prior art.

By: gitoffmenuts_google

gitoffmenuts_google — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 04:20:00 +0000

my nut sack is pretty round… but no corners. Damn.