You really can’t make this stuff up. I wish I could – I’d be a millionaire comedian with an annoying ventriloquist dummy whose unfunny show takes over “Comedy” Central every other month. In any case, the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, the slightly modified version of the Tab 10.1 Samsung introduced in Germany to circumvent the injunction from Apple, has been labelled okay by the German courts, even though Apple still contents that it looks too much like an iPad.
Why is this funny, you ask? Well, look at the below comparison shot from Ars Technica. The bottom one is the front face of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 which got banned because it looks like an iPad. The top one is the Galaxy Tab 10.1N – which the same German judge has now stated that it doesn’t infringe on Apple’s infamous community design.
“According to the court’s assessment, the defendant has moved away sufficiently from the legally protected design,” Judge Johanna Brueckner-Hofmann said, “Consumers are well aware that there is an original and that competitors try to use similar designs, so buyers are vigilant when looking at products. We don’t think that someone buys a Samsung to make his table neighbor at the coffee house believe he owns an iPad.”
As you can see, this is clearly a case of intellectual property law at work. Here, we clearly see how tens of thousands – maybe even hundreds of thousands by now – euros in legal costs, incurred by Apple/Samsung as well as, you know, taxpayers, has enriched the world and brought humanity forward.
Bravo.
the new one looks more like the original ipad to me.
Can’t tell if trolling…fine, I’ll say it: How?
i wasn’t trolling, i just personally think it looks like the first gen ipad now.
maybe its the silverish bezel.
note: i actually own a galaxy s2 myself.
Yup… I agree. Maybe because of the silvery side trim.
Yes, it really stands out now that they added the Samsung log.. oh wait!
I have the original Samsung GalaxyTab 10.1 and my tab has the Samsung logo on it. It’s weird because when I go to Best Buy or other stores, none the GalaxyTabs have the Samsung Logo on the front.
How did the lack of a logo become a design thing, anyway?… that’s purposefully making an object less distinctive (and taken to its logical conclusion – culminating in, essentially, a flat sheet of glass, I suppose)
I can’t put into words how … uhh, I can’t put into words.
That’s hillarious and I quite agree – this legal process was really worth it – my those two are clear distinct designs! Apple was very sensible to persuade Samsung’s engineers and designers to think again, and my they have!
World gone completely mad – progress or what!
Galaxy Tab N looks now different to the Galaxy Tab:
http://fs01.androidpit.info/userfiles/816819/image/GalaxyTab10_1N.j…
But now it have an own design. Apples producs have no own design, it was only practical created:
http://www.baekdal.com/opinion/apple-never-designed-the-ipad-they-u…
The Galaxy does not in any way resemble an iPAD, just the widgets alone win that argument. Now if you say iPAD resembles a CrunchPad, then you are talking fact.
Now how does Apple appear to win patent attacks, simply by outspending the other guy, making it too expensive to have a patent overturned.
Edited 2011-12-23 00:25 UTC
I have to ask the question – just what is that red circle with the dot inside supposed to represent?
As for the issue at hand – I actually think the new Samsung design is more attractive than the old one. The black border around the screen is more attractive than the old gray one. Smart move, Apple – you just forced Samsung to make their product even more marketable than before. Not to mention all the bad publicity you generated for your own patent-trolling company.
Did Apple make a major mistake? Apple has always been proud of it’s designs which it claims with a grain of truth that other companies do not put as much thought into creating.
Now it’s lawsuits are forcing other companies to pay more attention to industrial design and there are a lot of those people out there who do not work for Apple.
What do they do when someone else comes up with a superior to anything they have got? Sue so that they can copy it?
I agree with the point of the new one looking better. This whole suit with Apple/Samsung has been ridiculous from the beginning.
On the topic of the eyes…that is the “look of dissaproval”. You can find more information here: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/%E0%B2%A0%E0%B2~*….
I doubt that most tablet buyers are going to select a Samsung tablet because they detest Apple’s attempts to protect its IP. Outside of assorted geeks, dweebs and anal hobbyists, I doubt that most potential buyers are even aware of the details or pros/cons of this dumb patent war. The only thing that can make Samsung more marketable is a combination of effective marketing and the word of mouth over time that draws in other potential buyers. That’s how it works for the iPad.
Except it’s not Apple’s IP. Countless examples of prior art have been given.
Yeah. I remember how Apple pushed the Bebe ads off of all the bus stops for the first Ipad.
Being much cheaper works pretty well too.
And it so happens that many do ask their geekish friends etc. when the time comes to choose what to buy (especially in world at large, where disposable income is more scarce; where Apple has negligible uptake and via what Android will dominate from simple economies of scale); Apple largely putting those people off is unwise.
(few most vocal – also on the web – places, which mostly happen to be those few where Apple usage share is non-negligible, won’t change much)
BTW, I was sort of supportive myself of Apple products not a long time ago (and have some of course; with my iPod – a very rare thing here – chosen mostly because of, believe it or not, one “technical” property) – not any more.
(but I think I also got tired of being associated with the kinds of people who usually promote them… those even seem much more arrogant and off-putting – also to the mentioned “asking general consumers” – in places where they they can maybe feel much more “special” / where they are certainly very rare; and that’s still in one of more prosperous places around, a late EU member state)
At first glance I thought the top one was an iPad until I got to looking closer. I also think the new design is more attractive than the old one. I really don’t see how anyone would confuse the two anyway. Outside of the fact that they are both tablets with colour screens.
Well, maybe all it takes is to be one of the apocryphal Apple users? ;p
(hey, that quote was too good opportunity to pass up
)