






Judge Lucy Koh
Federal Judge Lucy Koh


But the fight between Apple and Samsung remains ongoing and bitter.


Galaxy S3 v. iPhone 4S
Apple's request to ban Samsung smartphones was denied on Monday.
[Image Source: Android Authority]


Apple Denied Motion for Permanent Injunction

II. Ban Could Still be Resurrected





Federal Circuit Appeals Court



III. Samsung's Request for Retrial Also Smacked Down





Galaxy Note II
Apple and Samsung's legal war.


A trial is slotted for early next year.

Source: Scribd via AppleInsider

Comments     Threshold


RE: Still smells fishy to me
By Solandri on 12/18/2012 4:09:05 PM , Rating: 1
Look at HP and their beat notebooks, quite a deliberate knockoff in MBP's design language.

Apple doesn't make the Macbook/Macbook Pro. Quanta does. They're the ODM (original design manufacture) Apple uses to make their laptops. ODMs differ from OEMs in that they not only do the manufacturing, they also do the design. So the MBP design is a Quanta design.

If you look at the ODMs used by the major brands, you find that HP's primary ODM is (drumroll...) Quanta. So yeah it looks similar to the MBP - it was designed by the same company and most likely by the same Taiwanese engineers and designers.
To drive it to the point, look at how many companies have borrowed design cues from other market trend setters. Take the Automotive Industry for example, Audi(well more like the designer who was contracted to articulate it) was perhaps the first to make the "loud and proud" grille, you look at American automakers, Asian automakers, and other European automakers who followed suit.

Fashion and nonfunctional design aren't protected by IP law. You're free to copy someone else's design cues to your hearts content. That's why fashion designers like Gucci resort to putting trademarks and logos on their products. Those are protected, and thus can't be copied.

That's the whole point of a design patent - if you come up with a uniquely characteristic look (e.g. the curved shape of a Coca Cola bottle), the design patent protects against a knockoff of your product which looks exactly the same and thus creates confusion in the buyer. None of this silly it's flat and has rounded corners therefore it infringes. If your design is minimalist and deliberately omits unique distinguishing characteristics, one of the risks you are taking is that there is nothing protecting you from others copying the design.

RE: Still smells fishy to me
By TakinYourPoints on 12/18/12, Rating: -1
