“Instead of pursuing independent product development, Samsung has chosen to slavishly copy Apple’s innovative technology, distinctive user interfaces, and elegant and distinctive product and packaging design, in violation of Apple’s valuable intellectual property rights.”
This is what Apple Inc. claims Samsung Electronics is guilty of in producing and introducing their latest products to the market. Samsung’s Galaxy smartphone and Galaxy tablet bears more than a passing resemblance to the IPhone and the IPad. Apple has filed a 38-paged lawsuit against the South Korean manufacturer giant and it’s the birth of a sensational intellectual property battle in the mobile market.
Apple claims that the Galaxy S i9000 model is a direct evidence of Samsung’s copyright infringement as this handset has copied both the hardware and the software features of Apple’s IPhone 3GS including the product’s packaging. Further, Apple claims that Samsung’s User Interface with the applications’ icons is a strong proof that they’re trying to imitate Apple’s design combinations. The Android Operating System is currently Apple’s strongest competitor in the mobile device market where Samsung is one of the most active Android device manufacturers.
Samsung has issued a statement saying that ”Samsung will respond actively to this legal action taken against us through appropriate legal measures to protect our intellectual property.” It seems as if Samsung stands their ground and are prepared to fight back on Apple’s claims while Apple is seeking for an injunction to get Samsung’s Galaxy Series out of the market shelves.
Incidentally, Samsung is Apple’s microchips and memory chips supplier for some of its products. We don’t know how this will turn out yet but it’s clear that it will be an important decision for the market in the future, which will show how far you can go. Since Apple is leading the market in many countries it’s very likely that Samsung wants to make their products look like theirs for this reason, since Apple seems to have found a design and technology that appeals to the public. However, they are both two giants in the mobile market and anything can happen even though Apple is known to be a persistent player in intellectual property battles. Some of its famous legal opponents have been Microsoft, HTC, Amazon, Nokia and Motorola.
This is exactly what I wrote two days ago for my May 9th blog post: “Smartphones and Patent Liabilities: Who Copied Whom?”
http://copyrightcommerceandculture.com/2011/05/09/smartphones-and-patent-liabilities-who-copied-whom/
What articles did you use for this entry? I’d be interested to read further on this topic… Thanks.
Oh sorry, I didn’t look through the other blog posts before I added mine. That’s too bad we wrote about the same topic but I guess it’s likely to happen when we all blog about the same topic. I can look up the articles I looked at and email them to you if you want, just send me your email address!
HAHA,
maybe what is happening to this blog post – based on comments – is what happened with samsung. they didn’t copy – just a mere coincidence.
er, rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrright.