Court allows Samsung Galaxy Tab to again sell in Europe

http://gigaom.com/mobile/court-allows-samsung-galaxy-tab-to-again-sell-in-europe/

by tilt • 15 years ago

131 57 15 years ago

iwwr2• 15 years ago

Is there going to be disruptive tech that can eliminate the political advantage of these IP thugs (rent-seekers) ? Perhaps ultra-cheap manufacturing?

orangecat• 15 years ago

Ha. If you think the current round of IP wars is insane, just wait until we have cheap and effective 3d printers.

iwwr2• 15 years ago

It's much easier to target companies and a few key manufacturers, than millions of home printers.

levesque• 15 years ago

What for?

Natsu• 15 years ago

I really hope that we can make printers that can copy themselves before the IP lawyers realize what they can be used for.

hucker• 15 years ago

If Apple did indeed fake some of the evidence, it will be interesting to see how Samsung chooses to retaliate. This surely has to border on anti-trust?

ghurlman• 15 years ago

No, just fraud.

davedx• 15 years ago

I'm getting pretty tired of these stories and tech companies in general. At the end of the day it's a touch screen that can connect to the Internet and run some software. When will the patent/IP madness end?

sjs3• 15 years ago

I agree with you, but you have to admit Samsung is pretty clearly copying Apple's trade dress. It's the only tablet that could be confused with the iPad at a glance. Especially for non-geeks.

If Apple weren't suing everyone else too they would have a lot more general credibility in my eyes. By suing everyone they just look scared of competition.

_ea1k2• 15 years ago

> I agree with you, but you have to admit Samsung is pretty > clearly copying Apple's trade dress. It's the only tablet > that could be confused with the iPad at a glance.

I don't think I have to admit that. Is it really any more iPad like (at a glance) than this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/759029-REG/Motorola_00...

eftpotrm• 15 years ago

Not that I agree that other devices don't look quite like an iPad, but...

Exactly how many possible styles are there for a handheld LCD device with a touchscreen as its primary / only input?

That's what's so utterly ridiculous about this; even if Apple hadn't altered pictures to make the Galaxy tab look more like an iPad, what were Samsung going to do? Make a circular tablet with ridges all over the screen and a fold-out table in the back? Apple have tried to assert that a the look and feel of a device where about the only practical variations are how big it is and which way round it defaults to being held is somehow theirs and theirs alone to exploit.

monochromatic2• 15 years ago

And yet somehow they're wildly more successful than tablets were a decade ago. Perhaps there actually is something more to them than a touch screen, an internet connection, and the ability to run software...

noonespecial• 15 years ago

Yep. A battery. A decade ago they ran for about 20 minutes.

kiiski• 15 years ago

What kind of internet connection did you people have in those tablets a decade ago? How about the screen? Or the software (that was easily found/bought/installed)?

anigbrowl• 15 years ago

Glass

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/1962-glass-could-be-Cornings-a...

InclinedPlane• 15 years ago

Multi-touch, flash storage, wifi, and UIs honed over several generations to cater to the specific needs of touch based computing in a small form factor.

barista• 15 years ago

Too bad Jobs' reality distortion does not work on the european courts.

tylerneylon• 15 years ago

About the questionable evidence images:

The actual Samsung aspect ratio (of the full device) is about 1.46, while the photo makes it look closer to 1.36. The iPad's image is more accurate at around 1.3. The vertical lines in the image (closer together around the Galaxy) probably make the aspect ratios appear even more similar.

Here's a larger image of the evidence: http://blog.webwereld.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/screensh...

weiran• 15 years ago

It's not related to the dodgy photograph of the Tab.

BonoboBoner2• 15 years ago

The funny thing is, this whole court decision has made me aware of the new GalaxyTab 10.1 in a way I would not have been if it was not for Apple's litigation. I checked out reviews on YouTube and compared it to the iPad, etc.

Isnt it counter-productive for Apple to make customers aware of their competitor's products that way? A lot of customers are gonna think "If they are sueing them, that alternative tablet must be worth checkin out."

technoslut3• 15 years ago

I doubt that any average user has any idea of what is going on. I'm sure their concerns lie elsewhere. Anyone willing to pay attention to this is a minority within a minority.

TorKlingberg• 15 years ago

Actually, I saw this story on the general news. Major companies suing each other counts as somewhat newsworthy, and one of their products getting blocked like this definitely is.

microtonal• 15 years ago

True, I fully agree. But Apple is loved by a somewhat large contingent of developers, small software vendors, and tech enthusiasts. That relationship can quickly turn sour, which may harm them to some extend. Not directly, but tech people's hate of Microsoft 10-15 years ago also had an effect on the larger group. The NT branch of Windows has always been very stable, and supplanted 9x a long time ago, still for many people Windows is equivalent to instability and blue screens of death. There's a lot of parrotting.

BonoboBoner2• 15 years ago

I dont know about average users in general, but non-tech-savvy people in my environment were aware of "Apple preventing some sort of GalaxyTab from being sold". They dont care about the underlying issue, but they know about the consequence and the free PR that the tablet received.

wtallis• 15 years ago

That didn't really happen with Psystar, did it?

If Apple's got a serious chance at a long-term disruption of their competitors' business, then giving them a short-term publicity boost is nothing to worry about.

Of course, if this lawsuit is just a stalling tactic to interfere with Samsung for months instead of years, then the payoff isn't as big. But Apple still has the highest profit margins and the most cash available for tactics like this, so they're not really in much danger of shooting themselves in the foot.

etherael• 15 years ago

I was undecided if I wanted a tab or an Ipad 2, apple pulling this strategy rather than trying to win on product merit pushed me over the edge into getting a galaxy tab 10.1v, happy with that decision thus far.

mongol• 15 years ago

From the article: " this time suggesting that Apple misled the courts by offering altered images of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab".

Isn't it amazing that the court can make such wide-reaching decisions just by looking at images, rather than the actual devices? It would not be a very complicated thing to present the physical devices as evidence in this kind of case.

jonknee• 15 years ago

Judges get really annoyed when lawyers try and play tricks like that. Get caught trying to fool a judge and you'll be on the losing side every time.

ugh• 15 years ago

They make that because the evidence is given under oath and it’s supposed to be a quick (and preliminary) decision.

It’s also not the final decision. The evidence will be examined again at a later point in time and Apple is liable for all damages should the court decide against them at that point.

Isofarro• 15 years ago

1.) A German court lifted an injunction in the EU nations, except Germany itself

2.) Apple misled the courts by offering altered images of Samsung's Galaxy Tab. In the filed documents, the pictures of both the iPad and Galaxy Tab appear to be the same size. In reality, the Galaxy Tab uses a different sized screen and aspect ratio than Apple's tablet.

Both of those datapoints are intriguing.

othermaciej• 15 years ago

Intriguing, but apparently not related to each other. The injunction was suspended outside Germany solely due to a dispute over whether the Düsseldorf district court has personal jurisdiction over Samsung Korea.

http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011/08/galaxy-tab-101-injun...

fpgeek• 15 years ago

True, but IIRC the altered photographs are getting their day in court August 25th (Samsung's appeal of the now-limited injunction).

Court allows Samsung Galaxy Tab to again sell in Europe

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