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Samsung: Apple Stole the iPad's Design From Univ of Missouri Professor

TheBoat writes with a bit from BGR on the Apple vs Samsung case: "We're starting to see a theme develop here. Now that it's Samsung's turn to present its case in the San Jose, California patent trial that regularly has the tech media abuzz, the company is taking an interesting approach. Rather than start out by arguing that its various Android smartphones and tablets do not copy Apple's designs or infringe on its patents, Samsung is arguing that Apple's IP is invalid to begin with. On Monday, Samsung argued that Apple's pinch-to-zoom patent was stolen from Mitsubishi's old Diamond Touch and on Tuesday evening, Samsung made a similar argument regarding the design of Apple's iPad. Samsung on Tuesday presented the jury with videotaped testimony from Roger Fidler, head of the digital publishing program at the University of Missouri. In his testimony, Fidler stated that he began work on a tablet design in 1981. 'Apple personnel were exposed to my tablet ideas and prototypes,' he testified, adding that Apple staff saw his designs in the mid-1990s."

362 comments

  1. And watch the fanbois swoop... by DeathToBill · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...with tales of how Apple had released the F700 way before Samsung started making phones. How Apple had invented the Diamond Touch decades ago. Apple built Roger Fidler from the ground up in 1979.

    Honestly, the barrage of bizarre crap that goes on these threads takes astroturfing to a new level.

    --
    Slashdot - News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters, in ISO-8859-1 Has just realised that beta makes this signature redundant
    1. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by alen · · Score: 3, Funny

      apple losing the trial would be worth it just to see what macdailynews.com would have to say about it

    2. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Sadly, it'll probably be something as boring as "Well, yeah, but Apple's doing it now, so that makes it okay!". MOAR LAWSOOTS!!1!

    3. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You want a nice summary of everything that has, and will, happen in this trial?

      "Company A said some stupid shit today, that angered fanboys of Company B. Meanwhile, defenders of Company A are quick to point out the seriousness of the stupid shit they allege Company B did."

      I mean, wasn't all this fucking shit figured out in 1994?

    4. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by camperdave · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's all in the way you present it. For example:

      Hillary, an amateur genealogical researcher, discovered that her great-great uncle, Remus Rodham, a fellow lacking in character, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889.

      The only known photograph of Remus shows him standing on the gallows. On the back of the picture is this inscription:

      "Remus Rodham; horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison 1885, escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged in 1889."

      In Hillary's Family History, she cropped Remus's picture, scanned it in as an enlarged image, and edited with image processing software so that all that's seen is a head shot. The accompanying biographical sketch is as follows:

      "Remus Rodham was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory. His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Montana railroad. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government facility, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroad. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed."

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    5. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by jhoegl · · Score: 0

      A black band on the arm for sure...
      Also, buy stock in pharma, for depression pill purchase will be on the rise.

    6. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's the difference between SCO and Apple?

      Fanbois.

    7. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by bwintx · · Score: 4, Informative

      Funny indeed, but just in case anyone thought this was a true story about Secretary Clinton (then-Senator Clinton):
      Snopes rates this 'FALSE'.

      --
      Discussion System prefs link: http://slashdot.org/users.pl?op=editcomm
    8. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by Jaysyn · · Score: 0

      Just in case anyone was wondering, this actually didn't happen.

      http://www.snopes.com/politics/humor/horsethief.asp

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
    9. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by Dishevel · · Score: 0

      Although I like neither.
      Apple is an IP troll that actually markets real products.
      SCO is an IP troll that has no products.
      Also I hear that barring a zombie apocalypse that SCO is now dead.

      --
      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    10. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by ArhcAngel · · Score: 1

      Actually it happens every day in every city in every nation of the world.

      --
      "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
    11. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by FranTaylor · · Score: 1

      where is the $200 apple tablet that "competes" with the Nexus 7?

    12. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by Dishevel · · Score: 1

      GP only asked what the difference was.
      I gave the only one I knew. :)

      --
      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    13. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Q. How many Apple employees does it take to invent a rectangle?
      A. 16

      http://www.google.com/patents/USD504889?printsec=description#v=onepage&q&f=false

    14. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm a big Apple products fan for the last 6 years or so. I'll keep buying their products in the foreseeable as really love them. But I will always applaud when a company get punched in the face for abusing the (utterly broken) patent system. If Samsung make it happen, good for them!

    15. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by Desler · · Score: 1

      Non sequitur much? What relevance does that have to this case or what the person above said?

    16. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by geekoid · · Score: 1

      well then, a provable example should be easy to point to, yes?

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    17. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would you give Roger Fidler, whoever he is, all the billions worth of his invention (royalties) in a fair compensation suit, if he INDEED can prove he invented and worked the thing before some guys mobbed him? Patents law say it can be done! You can PROVE when you have a **foothold** in a patent even if you have not filed formally, then you are entitled to some compensation. Note that such TABLETS were actually invented... by The Flintones! Remember the rock tablet with the voice oriented bird sculptor? No keyboard, take notes, read them, etc. That is obviously not enough to win a real lawsuit, but if someone actually placed together some transistors and draw a few feasible diagrams then showed them around but ends up waiting for a profitable while watching the guys fighting each other for the actually built thing... the lawsuit should be winnable.

      It is not the ONLY case around...

    18. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by Phoghat · · Score: 1

      I can only pray to any gods that might be listening that Apple loses, and Samsung counter sues and gets damages AND court costs. St. Steve my arse

      --
      Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
    19. Re:And watch the fanbois swoop... by Phoghat · · Score: 1

      Funny indeed, but just in case anyone thought this was a true story about Secretary Clinton (then-Senator Clinton): Snopes rates this 'FALSE'.

      Oh Puhleeeeze ! as if anyone would have taken this seriously. But then again, with the current shenanigans being foisted by the GOP and its candidates, guess you never can tell.

      --
      Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
  2. Not surprising by Hentes · · Score: 5, Funny

    Many professors draw white rectangles on their blackboards.

    1. Re:Not surprising by Rosy+At+Random · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ah, but are they _rounded_ white rectangles?

      --
      Would you like a slice of toast?
    2. Re:Not surprising by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 1

      They are if the original design was done in MacPaint....

    3. Re:Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    4. Re:Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And with the 24 other details the case is about?

    5. Re:Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. Most professors can't draw straight.

    6. Re:Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Samsung should try the Battlestar Galactica approach. ^_^
      Rectangles with the 4 right angle chipped off. Now THAT would not be an iphone, an ipad or i-whatever, and rotten-Apple wouldn't have a leg to stand on to sue. I'd sure buy and pad or a smartphone like that.
      Lets hope Ronald Moore wouldn't sue though, in our crazy world you just wouldn't know.

    7. Re:Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Apparently steve jobs stole his turtleneck look too.

    8. Re:Not surprising by trout007 · · Score: 1

      Anytime you mill a rectangular pocket it has rounded corners because the endmill is a cylinder. Mechanical engineers have been using rounded rectangles forever.

      --
      I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
    9. Re:Not surprising by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      They are if the original design was done in MacPaint....

      Coincidently, the video has about as many shots showing Macs as the tablet itself.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    10. Re:Not surprising by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      Just ignore the working prototype.....

      http://www.kitguru.net/apple/jules/shots-that-challenge-apples-ability-to-beat-samsung/

      Apart from the fact that it wasn't a working prototype. Which the professor says himself. Oooops.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    11. Re:Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Working prototype? Haven't you realized that it's a plastic case with a sheet of paper inside?

      And, by the way, they are so similar that the text below the picture in the article you link is WRONG. The iPad prototype is the one on the left, while the black plastic-with-paper (and logo partially obscured by Fidler's hand) is on the right.

    12. Re:Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh, that's no working prototype

  3. Translation by SternisheFan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple stole these ideas long ago and claims everyone else is a thief!

    1. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Always makes me think of a part of the Hitchhiker's Guide series, where the Sirius Corporation steals an excerpt off a cereal box and uses it in the guide. In the future, they get a time machine, got back in time, give themselves the quote, then back in the future sue the cereal company out of existence.

      That seems roughly like what Apple is doing here.

    2. Re:Translation by berashith · · Score: 2

      I didnt know that Disney was on trial here.

    3. Re:Translation by should_be_linear · · Score: 3, Funny

      Time to sue YouTube for making them look like idiots.

      --
      839*929
    4. Re:Translation by Mortaegus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think the article misinterprets the situation. Samsung showing evidence like this could be taken that they are trying to say that they copied the ideas (perhaps even with permission) from the professor, and NOT from Apple. IANAL, but that would have a firmer legal position than challenging Apple's patent with prior art. If the court is willing to view the case in such terms they would, de facto, accept that Samsung's position (that they are not infringing) is valid.

      --
      The essence of time is transient. Always be sure to make haste slowly.
    5. Re:Translation by jhoegl · · Score: 1

      Or Stan Lee!

    6. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YOU FUCKING FAILED IT!

    7. Re:Translation by Desler · · Score: 2

      Yes, but invalidating the patents is more to their benefit.

    8. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Invalidating the patents is to all our benefits.

    9. Re:Translation by houghi · · Score: 1

      It used to be called "Standing on the shoulders of giants" and not stealing. And we were proud of doing it.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    10. Re:Translation by Oloryn · · Score: 2

      But we weren't trying to prevent other people from standing on the same shoulders.

    11. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YOU FUCKING WOOSHED IT!

    12. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But we weren't trying to prevent other people from standing on the same shoulders.

      You've clearly not worked in academia long enough...

    13. Re:Translation by Kaenneth · · Score: 1

      I know, it's just like those Native Americans squatting on my property!

    14. Re:Translation by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      Yes, but invalidating the patents is more to their benefit.

      Well, somebody could then come to the conclusion that invalidating their 3000+ design patents would be a good idea.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    15. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YOU FUCKING DONT UNDERSTAND THAT PEOPLE WHO FAIL TO READ AT -1 FAIL IT WITHOUT KNOWING IT AND THEN NEED TO BE TOLD, IT

      the lameness filter has suggested that i use less caps for a while

    16. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh please. This isn't a case where a company existing only of lawyers is trying to blackmail or extort money from an individual or corporation with no plans to develop something on their own.

      Patents give individuals and companies reasonable assurance that they can profit from their ideas. If some company can just copy your design with no consequences, there's less incentive to develop and we all lose.

      Samsung shouldn't win just because people want something cheap and/or dislike Apple.

      There's literally nothing of substance in the article but somehow I doubt that this tablet from the 80's inspired the design and form of the iPad.

    17. Re:Translation by Phoghat · · Score: 1

      Apple stole these ideas long ago and claims everyone else is a thief!

      no, it can't be ! St. Steve wouldn't have done that !

      --
      Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
    18. Re:Translation by Phoghat · · Score: 1

      I think the article misinterprets the situation. Samsung showing evidence like this could be taken that they are trying to say that they copied the ideas (perhaps even with permission) from the professor, and NOT from Apple. IANAL, but that would have a firmer legal position than challenging Apple's patent with prior art. If the court is willing to view the case in such terms they would, de facto, accept that Samsung's position (that they are not infringing) is valid.

      Think what Samsung's trying to do here is show that the iPad isn't "unique". Rounded corners my arse

      --
      Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
    19. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www.everythingisaremix.info

  4. Probably right by Animats · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Apple itself has a prior art problem. Look at the Apple Newton, designed in 1987, alongside an iPhone. That was more than 20 years ago, so any patents have expired.

    1. Re:Probably right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wait a minute

      what year are we living right now???

    2. Re:Probably right by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      The only similarity I see is that both devices have black faces with a screen in the middle.

      I'm not defending Apple here, but there was no pinch-to-zoom on Newton - in fact it required a stylus. As far as design elements, the Newton splayed outward to sharp corners - pretty much the opposite of rounded corners.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    3. Re:Probably right by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 2

      wait a minute

      what year are we living right now???

      1987+17 = 2004. He meant 17, not 20.
      Patents prior to 1994 were 17 years, not including the submarine.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_of_patent_in_the_United_States

      --
      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
    4. Re:Probably right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      2012, which is five years after 2007.

    5. Re:Probably right by mjr167 · · Score: 3, Informative

      1987 is still more than 20 years ago. It is also 25 years ago...

    6. Re:Probably right by zill · · Score: 4, Funny

      Patents prior to 1994 were 17 years, not including the submarine.

      Damn those submarine lobby groups, getting their industry special privileges. /s

    7. Re:Probably right by irwiss · · Score: 1

      The corners probably ain't rounded enough for the judge...

    8. Re:Probably right by blackest_k · · Score: 2

      rounding corners is an aid to manufacturing and safety sharp edges cause cuts.
      In AutoCad and CAM pretty much every design will have radiused (rounded corners).
      If your moulding the materials need to flow and a sharp edge isn't going to work very well. Internal Corners also are bad essentially they are a notch and stresses are concentrated into the corner, this promotes cracking.
      Rounded Corners are an essential and fundamental part of engineering.

    9. Re:Probably right by noh8rz7 · · Score: 1

      don't be obtuse. what you describe is really meant as rounded corners with radii of a milimeter. here we're talking about an aesthetic desicn of rounded corners with a radius of a half inch. there's no technical reason for this. in fact, the most convenient shape for a tablet, so that it can fit in your pocket as the lawyer says, is for it to be suppository shape like my pos android phone.

    10. Re:Probably right by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 1

      And the Galaxy wants you to use a....STYLUS.....so I guess Samsung is steal from the Newton not the iPad...

    11. Re:Probably right by wierd_w · · Score: 3, Informative

      The size of the corner and edge radius is dependent upon several design considerations. "A few milimeters" does not suffice in all cases.

      Radii up to a half inch are commonplace. The factors involved are the thickness/stiffness of the injected material, the strength of the mold used, and what the intended use scenario for the finished product is. In many circumstances, an angle less than 90 degrees and a larger radius distributes stresses more efficiently than.a true 90 degree wall intersection with a small radius. As pointed out by the GP, the radius is added to assist in demolding the part. Likewise, a 5deg draft angle is also frequently incorporated as a standard practice.

      I have dealt with enough diecast and molded plastic parts to know way more about them than a typical armchair pundit on slashdot; I work with the shit professionally.

      GP is correct.

    12. Re:Probably right by VortexCortex · · Score: 1

      I find it hilarious this even had to be mentioned, and that folks found it "informative". :P

    13. Re:Probably right by mjr167 · · Score: 1

      Hey man... math is hard. Can I get a cookie or what?

    14. Re:Probably right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I found the searching in internet the CASIO PA-100 that is even more similar despite the cover. The true is that there are a lot of forgotten devices from Asia, Europe and America that are truly surprising, and are very hard to find dome information from those.

      http://www.umacamelife.net/pda/pa100.php

    15. Re:Probably right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damm.... , some self correction:

      I found the CASIO PA-100 searching in internet and is even more similar despite the cover. The true is that there are a lot of forgotten devices from Asia, Europe and America that are truly surprising, and is very hard to find some information from those.

      http://www.umacamelife.net/pda/pa100.php

    16. Re:Probably right by Compaqt · · Score: 1

      Pinch to zoom is not mentioned in the design patent for the iPad.

      In nothing is mentioned in the design patent whatsoever, other than a few line drawings of a tablet. (Seriously.)

      --
      I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
    17. Re:Probably right by Compaqt · · Score: 1

      Look around your office. You'll see rounded corners everywhere (yes of greater than 1mm radius).

      Apple did not invent them.

      --
      I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
    18. Re:Probably right by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      rounding corners is an aid to manufacturing and safety sharp edges cause cuts.

      Oddly enough, most of the designs presented by Fidler have very pointy edges.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    19. Re:Probably right by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      The size of the corner and edge radius is dependent upon several design considerations. "A few milimeters" does not suffice in all cases.

      Radii up to a half inch are commonplace. The factors involved are the thickness/stiffness of the injected material, the strength of the mold used, and what the intended use scenario for the finished product is. In many circumstances, an angle less than 90 degrees and a larger radius distributes stresses more efficiently than.a true 90 degree wall intersection with a small radius. As pointed out by the GP, the radius is added to assist in demolding the part. Likewise, a 5deg draft angle is also frequently incorporated as a standard practice.

      I have dealt with enough diecast and molded plastic parts to know way more about them than a typical armchair pundit on slashdot; I work with the shit professionally.

      GP is correct.

      We are talking about the outer edges of small electronic devices. GP is as obtuse as you are. Or give me a technological reason why the edges of the iPad as well as those of the Samsung Tabs have to be that round when those of the competitors don't (because they obviously aren't).

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    20. Re:Probably right by Inda · · Score: 1

      What about the cooling? You didn't mention the cooling.

      I like looking at injection moldings too. I alway look for uneven thicknesses where you wouldn't expect them. Like long straight ribs that have cooled too quickly and contracted. You see it all the time on cheap toys. A thicker radius near that contraction point would have held the heat longer and reduced the contraction and the stresses you mention.

      Proper engineering.

      I stopped working with this shit professionally. Working with plastics is nasty work and, at the time I was using them, were carcinogenic while curing.

      --
      This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
    21. Re:Probably right by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Pinch to zoom is part of the lawsuit, though.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    22. Re:Probably right by noh8rz7 · · Score: 1

      I'm unemployed, you insensitive clod!

    23. Re:Probably right by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      Minimum rules for molded items:

      The external corner radius must be at least slightly more than twice the material thickness. This is a minimum requirement, and is not a sensible choice in nearly all conditions; for strength reasons alone, larger radii are used frequently. To understand why this is a minimum requirement, imagine a radius exactly equal to the thickness on the outside wall. The corresponding inside radius would have been compacted to a 1 dimensional point, if the wall thickness were conserved, which it should be barring very unique circumstances. This creates a sharp internal corner, where cracking is essentially garanteed to happen. In order for there to be an internal corner radius, the external radius *must* be greater than the material thickness. End of story.

      In addition to the minimum requirment, you need to know more about your injected material's physical properties, and what kind of stresses you will experience while cooling, unmolding, and during product use. If your injected material is elastic, you can get away with a smaller radius, because the materia does not suffer structural damage as readily. If the material is stiff, hard, and brittle, a smaller radius is a recipie for broken parts. A larger radius distributes force over a larger area, reducing the stresses involved by distributing it. A small radius can actually concentrate stresses at the tangency points of the radiused edge, promoting failure of the material over time. A larger radius does not do that.

      On top of those mechanical reasons, which are intimately tied to material choice and plain old math, you have "use case" considerations, such as, "sharp corners tear shirt pockets", and "sharp corner marr decorative surface when dropped on them", and the like.

      The one being obtuse here is yourself, who has failed to offer any evidence whatsoever that samsung "totally copied apple", or whatever other intended meaning you are implying with your rhetoric. 3 people now, including myself have chimed in that there *are* perfecty valid reasons for using such a design in a smartphone, but you have rejected them all without due justification.

      The one being obtuse, sir, is yourself.

    24. Re:Probably right by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      Minimum rules for molded items:

      The external corner radius must be at least slightly more than twice the material thickness.

      The whole device isn't even an inch thick - again: why would the outer corners need to have a curvature of half an inch radius? Can't you answer a simple question? And no, hiding your inability behind a wall of words is not an option.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    25. Re:Probably right by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      Failure to read what was written; likewise.

      What *MATERIAL* is the casing made from?

      And *dont* say "plastic". There are nore kinds of plastic than there are world religions, and every bit as diverse in their properties. That was covered in the "wall of words" you just handwaved.

      You are now being a troll.

    26. Re:Probably right by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      Failure to read what was written; likewise.

      What *MATERIAL* is the casing made from?

      And *dont* say "plastic". There are nore kinds of plastic than there are world religions, and every bit as diverse in their properties. That was covered in the "wall of words" you just handwaved.

      You are now being a troll.

      Did I get that right: When Apple uses Aluminium casing the curvature of the corners is design, when Samsung uses plastic, the almost exact same curvature becomes a necessity? And I'm the troll?

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    27. Re:Probably right by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      Aluminum has radically different properties from pretty much all plastics, So, yes.

      You can retain a radical amount of strength in milled aluminum with a small radius, which you could never hope to have at the same geometry with ABS plastic.

      Again, the *kind* of plastic is fundementally important here. I don't know what kind of plastic was used to make the samsung tablets and phones. It could very well require large radii for structural reasons. I cannot discount that possibility, so I don't.

  5. Re:So... Samsung stole them from him too? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    no, Samsung didn't steal from him since he didn't come up with the phrase "force close".

  6. patent office = fail by LodCrappo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If Samsung can find all these examples of prior art, how is it that Apple was granted patents in the first place? These are hardly the only examples of Apple being given patents on things that were obviously done by others well before they "innovated" them.

    --
    -Lod
    1. Re:patent office = fail by arthurpaliden · · Score: 1

      The patent office only checks for prior art in existing patents.

    2. Re:patent office = fail by Amouth · · Score: 0

      Because it is up to the applicant to submit prior art with their filing, not the patent office's job to hunt it down.

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
    3. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Patents are tested when they're challenged, not when they're registered.

    4. Re:patent office = fail by stevedog · · Score: 1

      The USPTO doesn't really try to determine whether or not your patent is actually valid before granting it. They just do a sanity check on it: is this idea theoretically, in a vacuum, patentable? They leave it up to the rest of the world to actually contest the patent, if for some reason (e.g., prior art, or "hey wait, I already have that patent!") the patent conflicts with something already in the real world.

      In other words, if thinking is required, USPTO says "not our job."

    5. Re:patent office = fail by ndavis · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If Samsung can find all these examples of prior art, how is it that Apple was granted patents in the first place? These are hardly the only examples of Apple being given patents on things that were obviously done by others well before they "innovated" them.

      As my father-in-law was a patent clerk he said they stopped checking into prior art when he left in the 90s and they seemed to rubber stamp multiple things. He tended to take pride in searching for prior art as he didn't want a company to get patents on existing things. This was lost as they brought in managers who went with quotas rather then actually vetting everything thoroughly.

    6. Re:patent office = fail by GigsVT · · Score: 1

      That's not entirely true. The patent examiner is supposed to weed out patents that fail novelty or obviousness tests. Provisional applications are not examined, but real patents are.

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
    7. Re:patent office = fail by gnasher719 · · Score: 1

      If Samsung can find all these examples of prior art, how is it that Apple was granted patents in the first place? These are hardly the only examples of Apple being given patents on things that were obviously done by others well before they "innovated" them.

      "Prior art" is, by definition, anything that existed before someone applied for a patent. Prior art in itself doesn't invalidate anything, it has to be _published_ prior art. Something that was hidden away does _not_ invalidate a patent.

      That out of the way, prior art must also make the patented invention obvious. That is not at all clear. Samsung can of course find prior art, but they have to prove that this prior art actually makes anything that followed later obvious. And the answer to that question is frankly not obvious.

      Most patents include in the patent application a long list of prior art. The patent applicant includes this list to demonstrate that they looked for previous inventions, and that their own invention is in some way different and novel.

      A minor part is that just because Samsung finds someone who _claims_ prior art, doesn't mean there _is_ prior art. For Fiedler, for example, I heard that he showed _something_ to Apple, but that what he claims to be prior art was not created, and not published, before Apple applied for its patents. Similar, just because a Samsung designer _claims_ that she never saw any of the iPhone icons, doesn't mean her signature isn't on a Samsung document describing the iPhone UI, including icons.

    8. Re:patent office = fail by jo_ham · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Design patents are not utility patents.

      Design patents can even cite prior art as part of the application itself - for example, Apple's design patent for the Macbook Air references earlier "ultrabook" designs by Sony.

    9. Re:patent office = fail by GigsVT · · Score: 3, Informative

      That's not the case. In addition to the internal stuff the examiners do, the USPTO also has the peer to patent project to crowdsource prior art on participating patents.

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
    10. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's weird. So its: we'd like to apply for patent X, and here's some prior art which would invalidate our application for patent X.

      I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic.

    11. Re:patent office = fail by currently_awake · · Score: 1

      because the us patent office doesn't validate patents. they just take the money and issue numbers.

    12. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, in practice there is.

    13. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      The patent office only checks for prior art in existing patents.

      As a patent examiner, I can tell you this is false. Prior art includes anything published by another within a year of the filing date of the application, as well as anything published by the patent applicant more than a year prior to the filing of the application. This includes articles on the web, prior patent publications, pamphlets, technical papers, and so on. There are exceptions, such as papers given in closed conferences and protected, internal documents. But "prior art" is much, much more than patent publications.

    14. Re:patent office = fail by Dragonslicer · · Score: 5, Informative

      "Prior art" is, by definition, anything that existed before someone applied for a patent. Prior art in itself doesn't invalidate anything, it has to be _published_ prior art. Something that was hidden away does _not_ invalidate a patent.

      Incorrect. 35 U.S.C. 102(a): "(a) the invention was known or used by others in this country, or patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country, before the invention thereof by the applicant for patent". The "known or used by others... before the invention" part does not require publication. It does have to be before the date of invention, though, which is not the same as the date that the patent application was filed.

      You may be thinking of 35 U.S.C 102(b), which covers public knowledge more than one year before the date of application, regardless of the date of invention.

    15. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The USPTO doesn't really try to determine whether or not your patent is actually valid before granting it. They just do a sanity check on it: is this idea theoretically, in a vacuum, patentable? They leave it up to the rest of the world to actually contest the patent, if for some reason (e.g., prior art, or "hey wait, I already have that patent!") the patent conflicts with something already in the real world.

      In other words, if thinking is required, USPTO says "not our job."

      Incorrect. Patent Examiners determine patentability with regard to 35 USC sections 101, 112, 102, and 103, for the most part. 102 deals with novelty and 103 deals with obviousness. Once a patent is granted, it has a presumption of validity - because the USPTO has already examined the application and determined that it is patentable.

    16. Re:patent office = fail by arthurpaliden · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well in that case they you guys are not very good at your job then are you because simple web searches on dubious software patents invariable turn masses of prior art.

    17. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know in what country your father-in-law was a patent clerk. In the USA, patent examiners and the USPTO were infamous for a so-called "reject, reject, reject" mentality up until recently. All sorts of programs were put in place to prevent, rather than encourage, examiners from allowing cases. Most of what examiners in the US do is look for prior art. It is ludicrous to say that the PTO has "stopped checking into prior art."

    18. Re:patent office = fail by jcgam69 · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'd say it's more of a problem with the entire patent system and not the performance of the individuals.

    19. Re:patent office = fail by arthurpaliden · · Score: 0

      "It is a poor workman that blames his tools."

    20. Re:patent office = fail by GodInHell · · Score: 1

      He's not. It's like when you cite to caselaw in a brief, if you think there's something out there that calls your legal conclussion into doubt you have an ethical obligation to cite that other caselaw as well and let the judge decide if its relevant. This is sort of similar, but with the added bite of a statutory requirement, you're supposed to disclose prior art that you think looks like it could be related and then tell the patent office why its not a bar to your patent.

      Basically, the way out system (doesn't) work right now is that you apply (paying a large fee) the patent office rubber-stamps your application, and then interested parties decide whether its cheaper to license your patent or take you to court to invalidate it. Sounds like a rational system designed by wise and ethical law makers, no? What do you mean it sniffs of graft and corporate influence on politics -- why I never. :D

    21. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If I had a dollar for every slashdot comment that identified "prior art" that failed to teach, suggest, or render obvious every limitation of the independent claims, I would not have to be good at my job - I could retire early.

      From your earlier comment, it is clear you know nothing about patent law or how patent prosecution works. So why do you think you know when prior art has actually been identified?

    22. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Nothing you said contradicts the GP who indicated that the USPTO used to vette the patents thoroughly (your 'reject, reject, reject') but stopped around the time his father-in-law left (your 'until recently')

    23. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it's impossible. The standard for an 'original idea' is way too low. Add software and design patents and an already impractical task starts to approach heat-death-of-the-universe impossibility.

      The patent office is a nice idea, but like a lot of nice ideas it is insufficiently funded to do the job it's tasked with. Whether it's actually unattainable or the underfunding is deliberate is a (interesting) side-issue. The result is the PO is completely broken, and patents can only be rubber stamped then left to the courts to sort out. Meaning yes, you can only enter the invention game if you have corporate-level cash. Individuals are completely locked out.

    24. Re:patent office = fail by gbjbaanb · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is ludicrous to say that the PTO has "stopped checking into prior art."

      to be fair, looking at all the patents that are granted recently, I can easily believe the USPTO has gone from a 'patent checking and recording' organisation to a printing business that sells patent certificates.

    25. Re:patent office = fail by timeOday · · Score: 1
      Just because Samsung claims these things are similar enough to be considered prior art doesn't make it so - just as Apple's claims that the similarities between their products and Samsung's are too strong doesn't make it so, either.

      It is all a matter of degree. Basically this means capitalism is now a judged sport, where government decides who deserves how much credit for what advances. This is annoying, but I don't know how avoidable it is. Certainly I don't see high-tech companies clamoring to abolish intellectual property rights.

    26. Re:patent office = fail by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 1

      bullshit.

      show me a pro *anything* who insists on using old tools, other than to make some kind of point.

      if the goal is high performance, the tools *absolutely* enter into it.

      don't be an ass by repeating that old yarn. its BS. tools do matter. sometimes even more than the artist or workman, in fact.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    27. Re:patent office = fail by Grave · · Score: 1

      We're not blaming the tools, we're blaming the system and the policies.

    28. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and make sure the mortage coupons are picked up from the desk first.

      then, anything is (re) patentable.

      jr

    29. Re:patent office = fail by arthurpaliden · · Score: 2

      So the old tool of life experience does not enter into the patent process:

      I cannot patent the actions of the corner bookstore clerk who knows my tastes in literature and will make recommendations for me.

      I can patent the actions of a computer program that has a record of my tastes in literature and will make recommendations for me. (Amazon)

    30. Re:patent office = fail by RicoX9 · · Score: 1

      The problem is that the examiners themselves fail on recognizing the novelty or obviousness. A rectangular object with rounded corners? Really?

    31. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By "until recently" I meant "recently." As in, Director Kappos instituting policy changes when the Obama administration brought him in. And I should further point out that Kappos has emphasized doing a complete, timely examination on the merits; he does want to avoid reflexive rejections, however.

    32. Re:patent office = fail by Amouth · · Score: 3, Informative

      peer to patent is very new and would not apply to any of the patents in question for this case - the pilot for it was only completed in 2009

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-Patent

      While it's a good thing to get going, it still doesn't address the issue that the USPTO basically wants the person requesting the monopoly to be completely honest.

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
    33. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You are working from the assumption that the details of the patent system actually make sense, in a discussion about one of the most ridiculous patent cases around.

    34. Re:patent office = fail by Overzeetop · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And that's the challenge with examining patents for prior art. It appears that many of these ideas are not just available in the previous year but instead were put forth decade(s) before the patent was filed - in a time before the need to patent everything was SOP.

      What this captures is a competitive patent condition where technology may be developing in close parallel and is co-opted by another, but ignores the patenting of older ideas which were considered either too trivial, economically unfeasible, or simply not worth of patent protection (whether too obvious or not commercially viable) at the time.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    35. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is a duty to disclose information pertinent to patentability under 37 CFR 1.56. This does not mean that a submission is an admission that the claims are not patentable in light of the submission, nor does it obviate the examiner's task of identifying pertinent prior art by his or her own searching. Examiners spend most of their time doing their own, independent searching.

    36. Re:patent office = fail by Theaetetus · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If Samsung can find all these examples of prior art, how is it that Apple was granted patents in the first place? These are hardly the only examples of Apple being given patents on things that were obviously done by others well before they "innovated" them.

      As my father-in-law was a patent clerk he said they stopped checking into prior art when he left in the 90s and they seemed to rubber stamp multiple things. He tended to take pride in searching for prior art as he didn't want a company to get patents on existing things. This was lost as they brought in managers who went with quotas rather then actually vetting everything thoroughly.

      Around 90% of applications are rejected in the first office action, so if the USPTO is rubber stamping them, it's not with an "ALLOWED" stamp.

    37. Re:patent office = fail by jkflying · · Score: 1

      Amazon does not patent the ability to do so, only a specific implementation.

      --
      Help I am stuck in a signature factory!
    38. Re:patent office = fail by Ironhandx · · Score: 1

      No, he's correct.

      He's incorrect only insofar as that its not the way its SUPPOSED to work. However the way it actually works is exactly as he said.

    39. Re:patent office = fail by mikael · · Score: 1

      Prior may not always have been published. Like the patent lawsuit over multiplayer games. One arcade manufacturer claimed to have a patent over arcade board games networked together using LAN or serial port technology. One university was able to demonstrate prior art by showing a game that ran on their campus network, even though the source code to that game had never been made publicly available.

      Many corporations do this as well - their research departments will have archives and archives of technical reports, all dated and time-stamped for when the need arises. Though these days, they just file patents as a way of getting their documents timestamped in a legally binding way.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    40. Re:patent office = fail by arthurpaliden · · Score: 1

      Yea implemented 'using a computer'. Which is like saying if one clerk uses a pen and note book instead of a chalk and chalk board the implementations are different.

    41. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should look into the patent filing process.

    42. Re:patent office = fail by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      I used to believe that old saying, until the first time I played a well-crafted guitar. Bad tools do indeed create bad workmanship. Of course, if the workman chose those tools, then it's correct, but not if he's forced to use substandard tools.

      PHB: "OK, we want accuracy but low cost. So measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, and cut it with an axe."

      Workman: "I, uh..."

      PHB: "You have a problem with that?"

      And you're talking abbout organizations here; give the Cubs a hitter like Sammy Sosa (including that great tool, the corked bat), and they'll still not win the world series.

    43. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In other words, if thinking is required, USPTO says "not our job."

      The problem with 'thinking' in any descent size organization is that it leads to a fracturing of rules and procedure. If each person has to make a decision you wind up with a system that changes the rules depending on who's working that day. There is a reason for bureaucracy and the lack of it is the main reason most companies/organizations never grow beyond a certain size.

    44. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are working from the assumption that the details of the patent system actually make sense, in a discussion about one of the most ridiculous patent cases around.

      They make sense if you have familiarity with the law.

    45. Re:patent office = fail by VortexCortex · · Score: 2

      You wrongly assume that you can filter the entire history of all mankind through a tiny window of time and limited staff allotted to the evaluation of patents. Your artificial scarcity system is bogus. It needs to die. Quit your job. The Fashion industry doesn't need you, neither does Automotive industry need your design patents. The software industry doesn't need you either. What industry does? NONE. Face the facts: You grant bogus patents and let the ill-equipped court system ACTUALLY do your job.

      As a scientist, If you say to me that without patents there is no incentive to research and innovate then I will say to you: "Prove it! That's an UNPROVEN Hypothesis." We must do the experiment to find out how much patents harm or benefit society. Times have changed so drastically since patent and copyright monopolies were conceived that not doing the experiment and eradicating patents should be seen as ridiculously negligent to the highest degree!

      The system is inherently flawed. Were it not for the free flow of ideas we wouldn't have language -- We'd still be eeking out a living in the caves. We've never needed those who fill your job. It's not your fault, but it is YOUR problem.

    46. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You may be thinking of 35 U.S.C 102(b), which covers public knowledge more than one year before the date of application, regardless of the date of invention.
       
      No, I'm sure he's just thinking of some bullshit he read on Slashdot one time.

    47. Re:patent office = fail by slew · · Score: 1

      If Samsung can find all these examples of prior art, how is it that Apple was granted patents in the first place? These are hardly the only examples of Apple being given patents on things that were obviously done by others well before they "innovated" them.

      Prosecuting a patent (the act of trying to get a patent, not it's enforcement) is generally an excercise where a patent is sort of innocent until shown to be guilty. In this respect, a patent examiner is more like a district attorney, they tell you what you what your odds probably are and let you decide to continue prosecuting a patent. It seems to me that patent examiners seem to nearly always err on the side of allowing borderline patents and letting the courts sort it out later.

      Also, even if the original claims are not possible, sometimes the patent search itself suggests how to amend your original doomed patent application, so that it has a better chance to pass. Generally, a patent office is in the patent granting business, not the patent denying business, so if there is any patent to get near your application and you are willing to spend enough time/money to search for and amend your patent in the patent procecution/search process, you will likely be able to find it and get a patent on it. Of course, it may be a very borderline unenforceable patent, but it will be the best that money can buy. ;^)

      The patent law provides for the granting of design patents to any person who has invented any new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. A design patent protects only the appearance of the article and not structural or utilitarian features. For instance, the roughly rectangular aspect of the structure would likely not be protectable for a smart phone (since existant lcd panels are rectangular, a minimal utilitarian enclosure would obviously be roughly rectangular).

      AFAIK, the design patents in question are listed below. Be the judge yourself if you think the design is new, original and ornamental ;^)

      http://www.google.com/patents/USD504889
      http://www.google.com/patents/USD593087
      http://www.google.com/patents/USD618677

      Note that these are only design patents, if there were any utility or functionality associated with the design (say having rounded corners won't catch on your pocket seams, or being a certain size would fit in most pockets or hands), I believe this would require claims like a utility patent, which these patents are not. I doubt any of the utility patents on this would be allowed for any of the examples I cited as they would of course be too obvious.

    48. Re:patent office = fail by LordLucless · · Score: 1

      The GP wasn't saying that the definition of prior art only encompassed existing patents, he said that was all that was searched. As a patent examiner, can you give us a rundown on the SOP for searching for prior art? As far as I can tell, the patent office doesn't do a particularly exhausting search, relying on the courts to invalidate any patents that should have been invalidated by prior art they didn't find.

      --
      Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
    49. Re:patent office = fail by donstenk · · Score: 1

      In all this does it not matter even a bit that much of the prior art was not actually a functioning product, leave alone mass produced and available to buy?

      --
      Dennis Onstenk
    50. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know any patent examiners who operate the way he described.

    51. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The patent office only checks for prior art in existing patents.

      As a patent examiner, I can tell you this is false. Prior art includes anything published by another within a year of the filing date of the application...

      One year? You think one year is significant to search for prior art? No wonder the patent system is a mess.

    52. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And I was saying that no, examiners search much more than existing patents. As far as a SOP, there is none. Examiners are required to do a class/subclass search, which means consulting our classification system and looking particularly at patents and pre-grant publications that are classed the same as the claimed subject matter. In practice, examiners search google, particularly google scholar, as well as our own in-house Non-Patent Literature databases. We also have e-libraries and on campus technology specific libraries. But I can't give you a SOP, because chemical examiners will do a very different search than someone examining mechanical inventions or software. Individual examiners have their own style and approach to searching, and each case presents different search issues.

      We have a re-exam unit as well as other mechanisms to internally review contested patents, so no, it does not all fall to the court. There are certainly cases in which an applicant has a very old filing date and there simply isn't prior art available to the examiner, and third parties can request a reexam from the USPTO if they are able to produce evidence that raises substantial new issues of patentability. Sometimes patents go to litigation, and the amount of time and money put into searching for prior art dwarfs the amount allocated to an individual examiner for one case.

      I don't know how you arrive at the conclusion that the office doesn't do an exhaustive search. The USPTO takes in a lot of applications every year, and issues a much smaller number of patents every year, and some percentage of error is bound to happen. And a good number of patents that truly should have been issued under the law will still be attacked in litigation, and denounced as anticipated or obvious by people who haven't even read the claims.

    53. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      because the patent office only hires stupid arts students, that are just admins, very little computer or science background, who a large section of would have iphones and only ever read ilovemac sites.

    54. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Filing a patent (lawyer fees aside) is relatively cheap. If you look at some of the responses that the patent office issues (office actions) they are so laughable due to their level of ridiculousness. They just don't spend enough time on analysing the prior art. Reading some patent office actions is like watching that annoying kid on your favourite forum talking back at you with nonsense that only makes sense to him.

      To summarize.. the patent examiners are on a tight leash with very little time and they have an incentive to get rid of your file quickly. So after a couple of office actions where they "deny" your request (a non-final and a final), they will usually issue an allowance. Doesn't mean it's a good patent, just means that the Examiner decided it's not worth him time to pursue it.

      If a issued patent is "worth enough" they know that the litigants will "really" fight over the contents of the patent in the court room. Remember that a patent is simply the right to sue.. Nothing more.

    55. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To examine a utility applications, an examiner must have a degree in the hard sciences or engineering. People with computer engineering, computer science, and electrical engineering degrees are assigned to examine software patents, not a liberal arts major.

    56. Re:patent office = fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one said that. I said that prior art "includes anything published by another within a year of the filing date.*" Includes but is not limited to, as you would've easily gleaned had you bothered to read the following sentence. It also includes anything published more than a year before filing by anyone. It also includes items available to the public. I'm not here to exhaustively summarize 35 USC 102(a),(b), (e), (f), or (g).

      *Though, for applications undergoing examination now, applicants can swear behind art that is less than a year older than the filing date but newer than the date of invention.

    57. Re:patent office = fail by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      It depends upon the job they have been directed to do by political appointees. Entirely far to many politicians are lawyers and totally willing to exploit any and every regulatory role to maximise the number of court cases. The more crap patents the more court cases that result.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    58. Re:patent office = fail by Compaqt · · Score: 1

      In defense of the PTO, and against Apple, the patent itself doesn't mention "rectangular". The entire text of the patent is this:

      "We claim the ornamental design for an electronic device, substantially as shown and described."

      (Yeah, really)

      Then they give some line drawings.

      That, in itself, should be OK.

      The problem is Apple taking the "penumbras" and "emanations" from the patent to mean that they own round rectangles, which the patent clear as day does not state in any which way or form.

      So, this is actually "Apple fail".

      --
      I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
    59. Re:patent office = fail by jkflying · · Score: 1

      Actually, their algorithm that correlates which products which person will be interested in based on their previous purchase history is their 'strong' patent in the field. The fact that they were thinking about these problems long before anybody else gives them the right to cash in the the research they published.

      --
      Help I am stuck in a signature factory!
    60. Re:patent office = fail by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      The patent office only checks for prior art in existing patents.

      False. Patently false, actually. Just look at the average patent, and you will find references (aka prior art checked against) that aren't patents. E.g. for the iPad design patent that would be:

      Other References

      Andre et al., U.S. Appl. No. 29/180,558 entitled "Electronic Device", filed Mar. 17, 2004. .
      "HP Compaq Tablet PC tc1100", downloaded Aug. 27, 2004. .
      "Tablet PC V1100", downloaded Aug. 27, 2004. .
      "ViewPad 1000", downloaded Aug. 27, 2004..

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    61. Re:patent office = fail by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      Well in that case they you guys are not very good at your job then are you because simple web searches on dubious software patents invariable turn masses of prior art.

      Yeah, it has nothing to do with the fact that what most people claim is prior art isn't actually.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    62. Re:patent office = fail by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      The problem is that the examiners themselves fail on recognizing the novelty or obviousness. A rectangular object with rounded corners? Really?

      No, unreally. Have you even looked at any of the patents?

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  7. Shades of Bill vs Steve? by crmanriq · · Score: 2

    "No Steve Jobs Ghost - It's like be both snuck into Roger Fidler's place one night to steal his TV, and we both found Dave from 2001 A Space Odyssey had gotten there first."

    --
    If it's worth doing, it's worth doing for money.
  8. Subway Commercial by organgtool · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Every time I hear arguments like this, I can't help but think of adults whining in children's voices like those Subway commercials. "He copied my drawing!", "she keeps repeating everything I say and do!". Just shut the fuck up already. I hope one day we are able to look back on this and realized just how childish our species is acting. Nothing is created in a vacuum, so get the fuck over yourselves and get back to making products!

    1. Re:Subway Commercial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They both took the idea from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now can we get back to competing based on the merits of the device, rather than trying to get a judge to block out competition?

    2. Re:Subway Commercial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Didn't BO say "You didn't do that", so there, everyone made it not just Apple, the greedy bastards.

    3. Re:Subway Commercial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah man. Just shut the fuck up already. I hope one day we are able to look back on this and realized just how childish our species is acting. Nothing is created in a vacuum, so get the fuck over yourselves and get back to making products!

  9. Good for Samsung! by fallen1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd like to see some sanity return to patents, since nothing exists in a vacuum. Everything new has been influenced in some way by past experiences and influences. From a rock rolling down a hill to rocks turned into wheels to wooden wheels to modern rubber tires, it has all been an improvement on the previous improvement. I hope Samsung prevails with this line of defense to the utter ruination of Apple's patent-ly bullshit attempt to stop their competition.

    Frankly, the way things are moving, it might not be too long before software patents are gone and "look and feel" and other such patents actually have very limited lifespans or are disproven because the "look and feel" are based on a previous incarnation. I'd love to see THIS improvement made to patents and then improved upon again with copyrights included. You know, that whole "secure for a limited time" thing...

    --

    Dream as if you'll live forever.
    Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
    ~Anonymous~

    1. Re:Good for Samsung! by GigsVT · · Score: 1

      "Look and feel" was a copyright concept that has been pretty much universally struck down in court. It had nothing to do with utility patents.

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
    2. Re:Good for Samsung! by GodInHell · · Score: 1

      God, I wish that was true. Got some citations to caselaw? I could use them.

    3. Re:Good for Samsung! by toQDuj · · Score: 1

      Are you a Samsung lawyer?

      --
      Every experiment which ends in a big bang is a good experiment.
    4. Re:Good for Samsung! by GigsVT · · Score: 1

      Lotus v Borland, Apple v Microsoft

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  10. Asian R&D innovating again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Replicate And Duplicate! It's the Asian way ever since they copied the TV and they haven't stopped since!

    1. Re:Asian R&D innovating again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you say that nothing innovative has ever come out of Japan for example?

    2. Re:Asian R&D innovating again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What innovation ever came out of Japan? I hope you weren't thinking of all those Atari rip-offs? Or do you mean all the sleazy Betty Boop rip-offs?

  11. Videotaped? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anybody else have an issue with the use of the archaic term?

    1. Re:Videotaped? by aix+tom · · Score: 1

      They had to use videotape. If they used more modern technology of any kind they might have stumbled over dozens of more patents in the process.

    2. Re:Videotaped? by GodInHell · · Score: 1

      It is the term of art for testimonial evidence played at a trial, regardless of the media.

  12. Re:I thought it was Sony by Nerdfest · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not sure you're actually getting the point of the article.

  13. Re:I thought it was Sony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    First Sony and now this guy. The over all theme is still the same that Samsung is copying the ipad but in their mind it's ok. I suggest they stick to trying to innovate rather than live off someone else's work.

    First Sony and now this guy. The over all theme is still the same that Apple is copying everyone but in their mind it's ok as long as they sue everyone too. I suggest they stick to trying to innovate rather than live off someone else's work.

    FTFY

  14. Re:And yet by Rosy+At+Random · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't think it was his fault the technology wouldn't be ready for another 25 years...

    --
    Would you like a slice of toast?
  15. Tom Hanks has joined the battle... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He claims to have prototyped such a device in the 80s for a film called Big.

  16. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Nushio · · Score: 5, Informative

    Nice try, Apple fanboy, but the Prof isn't actually suing Apple (And others) for theft. He's merely there to state that prior art exists and Apple's Patents be declared invalid.

    --
    Check out Unsealed: Whispers of Wisdom! http://unsealed.k3rnel.net It's an action-RPG about Open Sourcerers.
  17. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So, others are free to use your work? And by others, we mean Apple, but not Samsung.

  18. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and that somehow means that no one should be able to make tablets that people actually want after them?

  19. How to Win a Patent Suit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Both parties in these lawsuits enter the fray with piles of patents if they are companies of Apple and Samsung size. Many of the patents have never been challenged and are vulnerable. So a good strategy may be to attack all of the opponents patents with the aim of having them invalidated. If the carnage gets high enough and enough patents are invalidated sometimes the parties just settle to make it all go away.

    I experienced this in a trail between Micron and Mostek semiconductor many years ago (early 80's). Mostek wanted to put startup Micron our of business. The small Micron founding staff came from Mostek. I was asked to use a University library to show that many of the Mostek patent claims were not original and the knowledge the founders had was common in the industry. Micron eventually prevailed in the suit against it's founders regarding use of privileged information acquired from their past association. I was later involved as a expert witness in a suit between National Semiconductor and another startup company. In that case the startup attacked the validity of National's patents on the basis of existing prior work at another semiconductor company (I had worked for that company). When the bleeding got high enough (patents being challenged and possibly invalidated), the suit was resolved quickly.

    I think the Samsung strategy is a good one. However Apple might retaliate against Samsung's patent position. I bet a settlement will come out of this quickly if the two companies unchallenged patents start getting invalidated at a fast enough rate.

  20. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That doesn't matter. Making something popular doesn't make it yours. With current law, first to file wins, not first to ship or first to make it popular.

    The problem with this article is that it's using logic to describe copyright law and patents. That is the first fail. This case is about what the court thinks regarding who invented the iPad and it's various patents, not reality.

  21. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by jxander · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The only thing Apple is "guilty" of is being the first company to make tablets that did not suck big green ones and that people actually wanted to buy and use. Nobody was able to make the technology popular before them.

    Being the first one to do something well, doesn't mean you're the first one to have the idea, and it certainly doesn't give you iron clad rights to prevent anyone else from trying to make a better one.

    --
    This signature is false.
  22. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Andrio · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, Apple is guilty of using ridiculous litigation to prevent anyone else from making tablets that do not suck big green ones.

    --
    The Internet King? I wonder if he could provide faster nudity.
  23. Apple ultimately stole the idea from God by TheSkepticalOptimist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Moses did come down from the mountain caring some curiously rounded corner rectangular tablets after chatting with God. Moses was the first one to steal this idea.

    --
    I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
    1. Re:Apple ultimately stole the idea from God by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Apple ultimately stole the idea from God

      Untrue. Steve Jobs Himself created Apple, remember, and bestowed that piece of His omniscient wisdom upon them. Clearly, that was proper not just legally, but also divinely.

    2. Re:Apple ultimately stole the idea from God by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Steve Job became "God" (TM) and went back in time to hand Moses an iPad.

    3. Re:Apple ultimately stole the idea from God by Beat+The+Odds · · Score: 1

      Moses did come down from the mountain caring some curiously rounded corner rectangular tablets after chatting with God. Moses was the first one to steal this idea.

      I believe that God designed and manufactured those tablets. Moses was just a distributor.

    4. Re:Apple ultimately stole the idea from God by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple ultimately stole the idea from God

      Untrue. Steve Jobs Himself created Apple, remember, and bestowed that piece of His omniscient wisdom upon them. Clearly, that was proper not just legally, but also divinely.

      Son, you need to go to the quartermaster's office and requisition yourself a life.

  24. Steve's Legacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Steve Jobs was a fantastic marketing person and Apple's success was due in no small part to his marketing skills.

    But in terms of technology and innovation, his standard mode of operation was to observe a piece of technology being developed someplace else and then figure out how to productize and market the technology. Personally, I am happy to see people starting to tear down these bogus Apple patents by pointing out where the technology actually came from. Hopefully the trend will spread to tear down so many of the bogus patents filed by other companies as well.

    1. Re:Steve's Legacy by Quila · · Score: 2

      his standard mode of operation was to observe a piece of technology being developed someplace else and then figure out how to productize and market the technology.

      More like he observed product categories being marketed, determined why they sucked, figured out how to make them not suck, and then sold the de-suckified version. There is a huge amount of design and engineering in the "make it not suck" part of that.

    2. Re:Steve's Legacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Steve Jobs was a fantastic marketing person and Apple's success was due in no small part to his marketing skills.

      I heard he gave great head. Just ask Tim Cook.

    3. Re:Steve's Legacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > There is a huge amount of design and engineering in the "make it not suck" part of that.

      Maybe so, but that does not make it *your* invention.

  25. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Umm... Fidler isn't suing anybody, he's just proving prior art that the idea and tablets existed prior to the iPad. Samsung is suing Apple for different patents.

  26. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Intropy · · Score: 5, Informative

    That's not really the point. If Fidler made it first, and Apple copied him, and Fidler didn't care to do anything about it, then Apple is free to continue copying it. But so is everyone else. That includes, for example, oh, I don't know, how about Samsung?

  27. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Apple is not being sued.
    2. That would only serve to further weaken Apple's stance.
    3. Again, Apple is not being sued.

    How can Apple be guilty of anything? They are the plaintiff in this case. Again, APPLE IS NOT BEING SUED.

  28. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    but this could show that apples patents are invalid, thus apples lawsuit against Samsung is invalid.

  29. Paramount should sue Apple by oh2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just watch some Star Trek TNG episodes and see everyone use thin and flat touchscreen computing devices with rounded corners.

    --

    Now the world has gone to bed, Darkness won't engulf my head, I can see by infra-red, How I hate the night.

    1. Re:Paramount should sue Apple by PortHaven · · Score: 1

      Yes, and that in and of itself should have been sufficient to dismiss this case with prejudice.

      But hey, Congress is a bunch of lawyers passing laws to the benefit of lawyers

    2. Re:Paramount should sue Apple by ceoyoyo · · Score: 3, Informative

      They don't have a row of permanent icons along the bottom and a four by four grid of icons above that though. Nor do they meet any of the several other claims. Nor are they easily confused with the iPhone or iPad, which is what the trade dress part of the suit requires.

    3. Re:Paramount should sue Apple by oji-sama · · Score: 1

      They don't have a row of permanent icons along the bottom and a four by four grid of icons above that though. Nor do they meet any of the several other claims. Nor are they easily confused with the iPhone or iPad, which is what the trade dress part of the suit requires.

      I'm sure that most non-technologically gifted would look at one and ask 'Is that an iPad?'

      --
      It is what it is.
    4. Re:Paramount should sue Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see, so Star Trek TNG invented the iPad and Apple invented icons, it all makes sense now.

    5. Re:Paramount should sue Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A desktop with a quick launch bar! That's original as fuck, right?

    6. Re:Paramount should sue Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah i was looking at my iphone i bought a few months ago, and i just figured out its a samsung galaxy, god damn bastards.

  30. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Makes sense that you aren't a lawyer, then. The point (apparently) isn't to turn things around and sue Apple for infringing on Fidler's designs, but rather to invalidate Apple's claims to the patent so they get off of Samsung's back.

  31. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is likely going to be so easy that I, a non-lawyer, could competently handle this part of the case for Apple.

    1) Did you sue anyone in the past for "stealing" your tablet work? No? Thought not.

    2) Do you know that other companies, including Microsoft, pushed tablet technology years before the iPad came out?

    3) Since you have not in the past pursued claims against others for supposedly "stealing" your work, how can we take your charges seriously now? Again, keep in mind that other companies have produced tablets prior to Apple and you had no objections to that.

    4) Are you being compensated for your appearance in court today? If so, how much are you getting and who is paying it?

    The only thing Apple is "guilty" of is being the first company to make tablets that did not suck big green ones and that people actually wanted to buy and use. Nobody was able to make the technology popular before them.

    Wait... I'm sorry.... was this trial over the general idea of a tablet, or something more specific? Your monologue seems to play on the idea of just a tablet when iirc the trial is specific to the design of the tablets, and how Fidler designed something similar, a.k.a prior art.

  32. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 3, Interesting

    1) Doesn't matter. All he's there for is to show prior art. The goal is not to punish Apple for theft, it is to show that their ideas are not original and thus their patents are invalid.
    2) Thank you for reinforcing the invalidity of Apple's patents
    3) Because people previously did not obtain patents for which his work was prior art and start suing other companies using them
    4) Doesn't matter as long as prior art can be shown

    --
    retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
  33. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The fact that he did not sue prior to this is of absolutely no interest in this case. The only thing that matters is whether he can show: 1. a clear derivation from his designs and 2. that Apple had access to them. If he can show these, nothing else matters: Apple's pie is cooked.

  34. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by N1AK · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Then everyone would look at you and wonder how you entirely missed the point that is being made. Samsung aren't trying to get Apple sued by this guy for copying him, they are using him to show that Apple shouldn't have the patents in the first place. Whether he has sued anyone or not in the past really doesn't tell us anything, he may not care about others using it but takes offence at people ripping him off and then suing others for doing the same thing.

    They will obviously ask what he is being paid; that's basically SOP in these kinds of cases now.

  35. The Idea came about in 1968 by na1led · · Score: 1

    From the movie 2001 a space odyssey, they showed a flat screen touch tablet very similar to an iPad. Apple has been known to steal ideas from others, example - the GUI from Xerox, and the Mouse. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKt9ZyDmA44. Apple is not the first to come up with this idea!

    --
    -- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
    1. Re:The Idea came about in 1968 by imraghavthakur · · Score: 1

      but there iOS was copied, blindly - even features in android says so...

    2. Re:The Idea came about in 1968 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Apple has been known to steal ideas from others, example - the GUI from Xerox...

      If by "steal" you mean "paid for and was granted access by Xerox" then, yes, you are correct.

    3. Re:The Idea came about in 1968 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple traded the right to examine the Xerox STAR and build an improved GUI and mouse in exchange for the Xerox to have the option to purchase pre-IPO stock in Apple.

      Stop spreading bullshit.

    4. Re:The Idea came about in 1968 by cyfer2000 · · Score: 1

      exactly, and a poster

      --
      There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
    5. Re:The Idea came about in 1968 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple has been known to steal ideas from others, example - the GUI from Xerox, and the Mouse.

      I'm only a reader, not usually a commentator, of Slashdot but comments from obvious idiots like this have finally pushed me over the edge. Is their any place where you can go to read stories where you don't read things from know-it-alls who are apparently too stupid to do anything else but parrot statements that have been refuted over and over and over again?

  36. If Apple loses because of Fidler by davidwr · · Score: 3, Funny

    U. of Missouri grads and employees can forget about getting job interviews at Apple, and Apple employees can forget about being allowed to collaborate with researchers at U. of Missouri.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:If Apple loses because of Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      U. of Missouri grads and employees can forget about getting job interviews at Apple, and Apple employees can forget about being allowed to collaborate with researchers at U. of Missouri.

      Wait, are you saying that the Apple corporation is childishly spiteful?

    2. Re:If Apple loses because of Fidler by davidwr · · Score: 1

      Apple is a big company.

      Big company's attorneys tend to be risk-averse. After the company loses enough times in court, the executives start to listen to their attorneys.

      If Apple loses because of Fidler, I expect the legal department will recommend making sure a similar situation doesn't happen again. Depending on how badly Apple is damaged because of the Fidler issue, Apple's executives might just listen to the attorneys, to the detriment of the company as a whole.

      --
      Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    3. Re:If Apple loses because of Fidler by Shompol · · Score: 2

      I already see this in Apple's new job requirements: "No previous contact with any university professors."

    4. Re:If Apple loses because of Fidler by docmordin · · Score: 1

      [...] Apple employees can forget about being allowed to collaborate with researchers at U. of Missouri.

      That's not a loss for Apple, considering that most of the "researchers" within the School of Engineering there, at least from what I've seen and have been told from others, are regulated to publishing prosaic papers in the bottom-tier journals and conferences.

  37. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 1, Redundant

    How does that handle this part of the case though? Samsung is arguing that Apple has no claim against them because Apple did not invent anything novel, and in fact they have a witness who discussed his similar design with Apple designers so long ago as to be out of patent by now if one had been applied for. This means that Apple can either claim that his information is too old, therefore invalidating their own patent, or that his design is different from the iPad, but the Samsung design isn't -- at which point they then get back to the real topic of this part of the case, that of arguing how the Samsung tablet is similar to Apple's in a way that is covered by patent and unique from all other tablets in the field. Questions about suing, other tablet designs, pursuing claims and compensation have little to do with the actual issues here (although I'm sure they'll be raised anyway, by whichever side thinks they have something to gain by doing so).

  38. Hear hear!!! by sdoca · · Score: 1

    If I could, I'd mod parent up!

  39. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by should_be_linear · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Samsung's point is not that Apple was stealing, but that Apple was suing others for "stealing", while "stealing" themselves. Both cases (Fidler. vs. Apple, Apple vs. Samsung) are pretty much nonsense, as anyone working in technology can see, no stealing actually happened at all, it was "stealing" as in broken law system.

    --
    839*929
  40. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Patents are not copyrights; there is no legal obligation to pursue all infringers to pursue any single infringer.

  41. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by GodInHell · · Score: 3, Informative

    You, a non-lawyer, would get your ass handed to you by Samsung's counsel.

    The Witness isn't claiming rights to a patent, he's giving testimony that the technology Apple is claiming a patent over was already out there and known to the public. Patent law isn't just about "I was the first one to claim the exclusive right to a technology" its about invention. If someone else can show that you didn't invent it, that there is "prior art" your patent can be extinguished.

    Many of apple's patents are questionable, but this and slide-to-unlock are particularly ripe for invalidation.

  42. Re:I thought it was Sony by cynop · · Score: 1

    That's not the theme at all. The theme is "Apple's patents about the iphone's design are invalid, because others had created products based on the same principles and ideas in the past".Apple was just the first company to apply for a pattent for the ideas. As such, they have just as much right as Apple to use an green icon for our dialer application.

    A good analogy is McDonalds suing Wendy's because they had patented the "burger" design". They were not the first ones to think about it, it's just that McDonalds was the first to pattend the idea.Lord Sandwitch's heir should sue both their asses

  43. Stop the madness! by LoudMusic · · Score: 1

    The only people prospering from all this are the lawyers and the journalists. STOP THE MADNESS!

    --
    No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
  44. Re:And yet by w_dragon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why shouldn't a sci-fi show be able to qualify as prior art for design or UI patents?

  45. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by GodInHell · · Score: 1

    Isn't there a countersuit from Samsung?

  46. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by chrb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I, a non-lawyer, could competently handle this part of the case for Apple

    It's a good job that you aren't, since your points are invalid:

    1) Apple isn't suing for "stealing" - it is suing for "patent infringement". In contrast, Fidler is not claiming that Apple infringed his patents, he is merely pointing out that his tablet designs predate the iPad and yet contain the same "original patented" design features (flat touchscreen, rounded corners etc.)

    2. Irrelevant, but yes, of course he does - however, Federer's designs date back 20 years (Microsoft's "Tablet PC" was 1999) - check out this video of Fidler's working tablet in 1994 - 2m45s in - that looks remarkably like an iPad. Also see History of tablet computers

    3. Irrelevant since he isn't claiming patent infringement - he is claiming prior art.

    4. Good question - generally experts are paid for their time in producing a report, not for testimony as such - but only a week ago Apple was caught paying $75,000 to a professional "expert witness" (seriously, this is how this man describes his profession on his own web site).

    Nobody was able to make the technology popular before them.

    Capacitive touch screens large enough for a tablet and at a consumer-friendly price point did not exist before. Now, they do. Technological advances drive new products. Suppose a car manufacturer comes out with the first mass market popular electric car - does this mean that this car manufacturer should have a 20 year monopoly on electric cars, free market be damned?

  47. Star Trek PADD as a concept would be prior art... by Picass0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...from a design POV it would be a argument worth making in court. It wouldn't even matter that they were non-functioning props. A US patent is just a drawing, it doesn't need to represent a working prototype.

    How many fanboys install a Star Trek GUI app after unboxing their new iPads or Galaxy Tabs?

  48. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Prof. Filder ain't even mad though. Let me address your points:

    1. Like I said he ain't mad, what does the lack of suing people have to do with apple being privy to his work?
    2. Like I said he ain't mad, so other companies *copied* his work before the iPad came out. How does this invalidate his claim of prior art? If anything it gives more credence to it.
    3. So you can't take his claims of prior art seriously because he didn't sue everybody?
    4. What does that have to do with anything?

    At least as far as I understand he's not trying to single out and sue apple he's just making a claim of prior art. Yes other people have copied his work too but why does that even matter? It seems to me he has no problem with his work being copied he's just saying apple did not come up with the idea. So your post really makes no sense, how it got modded up 3 I have no idea...

  49. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Those arguments are for "Trademarks" not Patents, If you don't fight for trademarks you lose them. It is perfectly legal to sit back and watch if someone steals a patent then wait until they make money to go after them.

  50. Why does it matter who was paying him?? by backslashdot · · Score: 1

    Your comment is pretty nonsensical .. others have stated why so I won't repeat that. But I want to ask you why you even thought #4 was a valid point. Why does it matter who was paying him? The fact as to whether his work was stolen has nothing to do with whether he is being paid to state what he did. I could understand a question like "are you lying?" or "Are you being paid to lie?" ... however nobody is disputing the authenticity of his claims, since they are well documented. So knowing whether Samsung paid him millions to testify has no bearing on anything.

    Apple skipped ahead of the line by taking other people's work and is now blocking others from advancing by claiming to have patents on it? Do you not see anything wrong with that? Others spent their R&D budgets coming up with the core ideas ..of course their phones were not as great .. phone CPUs sucked and also most ideas were focused on things like bandwidth and stuff.. Apple merely had to invest in the final integration of ideas and the design ..in doing so so they leaped ahead about 5 to 10 years ahead of the others .. it doesn't mean they should have an eternal monopoly on making tablets.

    Note, back in 2005 I predicted on slashdot that large touchscreen phones would be a success (as did others) .. nearly 2 years before the launch of the iPhone. http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=163341&cid=13644457

  51. Apple stole iPhone idea from 2005 slashdot comment by backslashdot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In 2005 I predicted on slashdot that large touchscreen phones would be a success (as did others) .. nearly 2 years before the release of the iPhone. http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=163341&cid=13644457

    Samsung oughta have me testify.

  52. Steve Jobs is a hypocrite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "Picasso had a saying - `good artists copy, great artists steal' - and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas." - Steve Jobs

    "Google fucking ripped off the iPhone, wholesale ripped us off. I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product." - Steve Jobs

    1. Re:Steve Jobs is a hypocrite by Spy+Handler · · Score: 1

      he also defrauded (stole?) his buddy Woz of their Atari chip design money, even though it was Woz who actually did all the work. He is simply not an honest human being.

    2. Re:Steve Jobs is a hypocrite by billd10 · · Score: 0

      Jobs WAS a hypocrite. Once he stole an idea, he didn't want anybody else doing the same. Most of the innovation in cellphones comes from Qualcomm who developed the standards and allowed increases in bandwith and speed. Apple simply makes an appliance assembled from parts made by others which has an attractive design and is adored by yuppies for whom Steve Jobs is their idol. Jobs was a master marketer and its amazing how many people will pay more for something that is pretty similar to its competition because they thought Jobs was oh so cool.

  53. Not even that complicated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The more "intellectual property", the more business for government, and the more revenue and power they acquire.

  54. you sound like you know what you're talking about by Chirs · · Score: 1

    Why do so many patents fail the test of obviousness to people knowledgeable in the relevant field?

  55. Having the patents invalidated... by cynop · · Score: 1

    ...seems to me to be one of the worst outcomes of this trial for Apple. In that case, android will incorporate even more design futures of the ios and the iphone will lose it's distinct advantage. Apple's legal team must have felt pretty confident to risk the pattents in court, but it seems to me this will turn back and bite them on their shinny lawyer asses.

    1. Re:Having the patents invalidated... by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

      I suspect they have very little to lose. Patents on these things, while important today, will have very little bearing in 5 years. With a litigation cycle extending that long (and sometimes longer), simply litigating can protect your IP for its entire useful life regardless of its actual validity. All the while, you are using it and actively preventing (or impeding) your competitors.

      Winning or losing doesn't really matter that much - sure, it would be nice to win, but just a good, long show meets the performance goals of the tactic.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    2. Re:Having the patents invalidated... by cynop · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure i agree with you. First of all, in the last few days we've learned than apple has licenced some of those pattents to MSFT and other companies. That steady stream of cash would dry if the pattents were meaningless.

      But most importantly the patterns are ammo for courtroom wars (remember, Google bought motorola just for their patent portfolio). Invalidating those patterns could open a pandora's box: Every apple competitor who was afraid to challenge Apple's UI pattents would take courage from the Apple V. Samsung, and reexamine it's aproach. It could spark a domino effect for the whole industry

  56. Re:I thought it was Sony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    totally agree. Anybody who copies anything should be hung by their thumbs and beaten about the head and shoulders with a wet weasel. (and according to the points made in the article the line should start in Cupertino.)

  57. Walter Isaacson by Dr.+Evil · · Score: 5, Funny
    He said it best:

    Their meeting was in Jobs’s conference room, where Gates found himself surrounded by ten Apple employees who were eager to watch their boss assail him. Jobs didn’t disappoint his troops. “You’re ripping us off!” he shouted. “I trusted you, and now you’re stealing from us!” Gates just sat there coolly, looking Steve in the eye, before hurling back, in his squeaky voice, what became a classic zinger. “Well, Steve, I think there’s more than one way of looking at it. I think it’s more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it.”

  58. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And then would you expect him to writhe and choke under your grilling, as he transformed into a sweating, hapless caricature of a daytime TV witness duped by the lawyer's cunning simplicity?

    "Just answer the question, Mr. Fidler. Yes or no.", you'd firmly cut in over his stammers, his face strained with his barely contained vitriol. But then, he thought, why was he having to answer these questions? He wasn't on trial; he was merely there to demonstrate his tablet's example as prior art. How foolish to let himself get so caught up in the drama of it all!

    I don't find either momentary popularity or lack of litigiousness to be a relevant measure of pre-existence. I also still find Dieter Rams' designs to be the direct basis of Apple's design aesthetic, whose works I'm surprised Samsung has never cited as one of their inspirations. But who'd want to listen to such an obviously biased anti-Apple/American hatemonger here?

  59. Re:I thought it was Sony by omnichad · · Score: 2

    Wendy's burgers don't even have round corners! Apple should clearly sue McDonalds.

  60. The more I think of it the less silly it sounds. by Picass0 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The PADD devices seen on The Next Generation, DS9, and Voyager all did things that are major selling points for the iPad and iPhones.

    * Touchscreen device
    * Played video and sound
    * dynamic user interface could be customized to serve the application
    * Video conferencing
    * Loaded and saved information to the remote storage (In this case the a ship or Starfleet computers would be "the cloud")
    * Data could be synced between devices
    * Device could be re-configured to remotely control a workstation (remote desktop)
    * They even have rounded corners
    * Devices could be encrypted

    All of those functions are demonstrated or spoken of in episodes or described in Mike Okuda's ST:TNG Technical Manual (Okuda was the lead designer on most of the newer television Star Treks)

    All of this predated any patent filings by Apple.

  61. Difficult position to argue by Migraineman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If there's any pattern here, it's that companies will violate a competitor's patent by claiming the patent is invalid (ergo the violation is completely justifiable.) Here's a pretty classic example from the telecom bubble:

    Dr. David Huber gets booted from Ciena corporation, and founds a competing entity - Corvis. Corvis builds a product that does exactly what Ciena's products do - they multiplex several optical signals onto a single fiber. Ciena has patents for synthesizing a higher-rate signal by bundling several lower-rate signals together. The process is called "inverse multiplexing," and has been around since the analog telephony days. You can inverse mux several analog telephone modems together, and some companies did. Ciena got patents by basically putting "on fiber optic cables" after the well known technique. Since Huber used to work at Ciena, he knew the technique had a long history, and consequently moved forward with the expectation that any patent infringement could be easily dismissed by claiming Ciena's patents were invalid by prior art.

    So how did that work out? As you might expect, not so well for Corvis.

    1. Re:Difficult position to argue by jaak · · Score: 1

      Well, it didn't work out too bad...

      There were 4 patent lawsuits and Corvis won two and lost two. They had a $35 million dollar fine for which they were allowed to apply $33 million of the fine to purchasing goods and services from Ciena (Corvis was already a customer of Ciena's anyway). And, during the lawsuits Corvis had an IPO that raised $1+ billion (they were only expecting to raise $400 million).

  62. Re:Apple stole iPhone idea from 2005 slashdot comm by Carewolf · · Score: 1

    In 2005 I predicted on slashdot that large touchscreen phones would be a success (as did others) .. nearly 2 years before the release of the iPhone. http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=163341&cid=13644457 [slashdot.org]

    Okay okay, you deserve it:

    You were right.

    Congratulations! (Too bad I can't mod it any more.)

  63. Re:you sound like you know what you're talking abo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So many patents don't. Many of the stories on slashdot use only the summaries of patents or their titles to scream that the sky is falling - but "the name of the game is in the claims." For something to anticipate or render a claim obvious, it must show every limitation of the claimed invention. Most of the time, issued claims are much more detailed than the summary would suggest, and not easily shown obvious, in a legal sense, by people knowledgeable in the field. The bottom line is that just because someone is knowledgeable in the field does not guarantee that they know anything at all about patent law.

  64. Steve jobs, thief AND hypocrite by TiggertheMad · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The only similarity I see is that both devices have black faces with a screen in the middle.

    I'm not defending Apple here, but there was no pinch-to-zoom on Newton - in fact it required a stylus. As far as design elements, the Newton splayed outward to sharp corners - pretty much the opposite of rounded corners.

    Apple stealing these design elements from someone else doesn't bother me. What bothers me is stupid shit like making claims that gesture based UI elements are 'Advances in the Arts and Sciences' worthy if patenting.

    Of course, with Jobs attitudes towards IP, this news is hardly shocking. He seemed willing to change his views 180 degrees when he was on the other side of the fence.

    --

    HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
    1. Re:Steve jobs, thief AND hypocrite by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Yeah IMHO his was a large part P.T. Barnum.

      Like I said, I wasn't defending Apple - just stating that a Newton was very dissimilar from an iPhone/iPad - both in superficial appearance and in operation.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    2. Re:Steve jobs, thief AND hypocrite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yep. One good example would be him claiming that people do not read any more, only to have Apple launch a digital book store soon after.

    3. Re:Steve jobs, thief AND hypocrite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course, with Jobs attitudes towards IP, this news is hardly shocking.

      Seeing as he's try to get the patent on death post-mortum.

  65. not unique by chowdahhead · · Score: 1

    Always Innovating announced the Touch Book almost a year before the iPad was revealed. I think it even started shipping months before that as well. I didn't own one, but I remember the buzz at the time, and the difficulty they had fulfilling orders. Apple's claims of the uniqueness of the iPad and that similar devices can't be developed independent of each other are preposterous. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgSQRuU8qI4

    1. Re:not unique by willy_me · · Score: 2

      There were plenty of tablets out before the iPad - I don't think anyone is contesting this fact. Apple is suing Samsung for creating products that are so similar to those made by Apple that a large percentage of customers can not tell them apart.

      In regards to the Touch Book, it differs from an iPad in many ways. From looking at the photos, it appears to be designed for use with a landscape orientation. It lacks a home button centred on the bottom border. The screen is inset from the border where the iPad has a flat seamless surface. Then there is the software that is obviously very different in both appearance and function. Do I have to mention the keyboard? There is no way this invalidates the Apple design patents. Despite what people here like to claim, the patent is more specific then a rectangle with rounded corners.

      All of these patents are just plain stupid - but they serve a purpose. A company must be able to protect their designs from those who would copy them. Without these protections there would be far less innovation. With regards to Samsung, I don't feel sorry for them. Plenty of great tablet designs have come out that are not copies of an iPad. Microsoft has their new tablet and HP had (unfortunately, past tense) their WebOS tablet. Blackberry makes a non-infringing tablet as do many manufacturers of Android based tablets. It is easy to not copy Apple, I don't see why Samsung went out of their way to be an Apple clone.

    2. Re:not unique by Compaqt · · Score: 1

      > From looking at the photos, it appears to be designed for use with a landscape orientation.

      I'm not quite sure where you were going with this. And? The Apple design patent shows a guy using the iPad in landscape orientation. In any case, I don't accept that Apple "owns" either landscape or portrait orientation.

      > It lacks a home button centred on the bottom border.
      And the Apple design patent drawings also lack any button whatsoever. Your point again? That Apple owns putting a home button centered on the bottom side portrait wise?

      Does that mean Always Innovating morally deserves ownership of a home button on the bottom side landscape wise?

      >Without these protections there would be far less innovation.

      Apple didn't innovate. It copied from a plethora of existing tablet designs.

      By its own standard of "can you tell the difference at 10 feet with identifying markers obscured", it would be difficult for normal people (non-Apple engineers) to tell the iPad and Knight Ridder apart.
       

      --
      I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
  66. So much for "visionary Steve Jobs", eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A man who leeched off Steve Wozniak's brains for years and apparently those of others in academia!

  67. Re:And yet by DickBreath · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > Next thing you know Star Trek episodes will be prior art.

    For trade dress, yes they should be prior art. If an idea is that obvious, then it should not be patentable. For function (eg, Warp Drive) it should not be patentable without a working prototype. This should help illustrate the difference between meaningful technology patents (eg, cellular radios) and trade dress (eg, round rectangles, green icons with a phone handset, etc).

    MCCCXXXVII intellectualis proprietas pupillam est magnum sacculum canis stercus

    --

    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  68. Re:And yet by Ryanrule · · Score: 5, Informative

    Because the apple biased judge threw out those claims.

  69. Re:And yet by jpstanle · · Score: 3, Informative

    Next thing you know Star Trek episodes will be prior art.

    Uh, regarding the rounded-corner rectangle design patent thing, how are they not prior art? Design patents are specifically for an appearance/shape, irrespective of function or purpose.

  70. Re:Star Trek PADD as a concept would be prior art. by ArhcAngel · · Score: 1

    I'm sure it's quite a few:

    MAC OSX
    Windows
    Android
    iOS
    BB OS

    --
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
  71. God save us from Perry Mason wannabes.nd the conce by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Like the original slam dunk poster who wants to crossexamine a video tape, and who does not understand the concept of laches, which says
    that if you don't enforce your patents, you lose the right to enforce them, OTOH laches does not apply to prior art since there are no rights to enforce.

  72. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by chispito · · Score: 1

    The only thing Apple is "guilty" of is being the first company to make tablets that did not suck big green ones and that people actually wanted to buy and use. Nobody was able to make the technology popular before them.

    Being the first one to do something well, doesn't mean you're the first one to have the idea, and it certainly doesn't give you iron clad rights to prevent anyone else from trying to make a better one.

    Put more clearly, Apple is guilty (as are so many companies) of filing frivolous patent lawsuits.

    --
    The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
  73. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by stephanruby · · Score: 1

    This is likely going to be so easy that I, a non-lawyer, could competently handle this part of the case for Apple.
    1) Did you sue anyone in the past for "stealing" your tablet work? No? Thought not.

    He never said they stole his design. That's the journalist saying that.

    Fildler did say that Apple employees had been "exposed" to his ideas and designs mid-90s.

    The fact whether his mid-90s designs were similar to the iPad design (which came much later than mid-90s) is anybody's guess. Aside from posting an inflammatory assertion about Apple, the journalist/blogger didn't post any pictures, or anything, of any pictures or drawings that might have been submitted to the court.

    2) Do you know that other companies, including Microsoft, pushed tablet technology years before the iPad came out?

    Are you some kind of Apple fundamentalist? Or just an idiot?

    “My original assumptions were that it would be a touchscreen without a stylus,” Fidler testified.

    I know it's customary on Slashdot not to read articles before posting an opinion, but you're arguing as if you actu

  74. what permission? Xerox sued Apple for idea theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think itâ(TM)s more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it.

    Apple had permission from Xerox to use the ideas they had as a base.

    When Xerox filed suit against Apple in 1989 they swore to the courts that Apple did *not* have permission. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/24/business/most-of-xerox-s-suit-against-apple-barred.html "Apple also replied that while it might have borrowed ideas from Xerox, ideas were not protected by copyrights, only the way the ideas were expressed."

  75. Get off my lawn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I remember when the only televisions you could buy all had rounded corners. Steve Jobs sold rounded corners to his designers by pointing out they were everywhere already. Now get off my lawn

  76. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by stephanruby · · Score: 1

    [Slashdot just gave me an error, here is the rest of my post]

    ...had read the article -- which clearly you did not. It's not like the quote above is buried deep in there.

    The only thing Apple is "guilty" of is being the first company to make tablets that did not suck big green ones and that people actually wanted to buy and use. Nobody was able to make the technology popular before them.

    Blah... Blah... Blah... Blah.. Bla...

    Listen to me, I didn't read a single line of the article, but I know Apple is innocent!! I know it for sure.

    I have special psychic abilities that make me know everything. That's why I can have an elaborate absolute opinion on an article, that I haven't even read. And I don't care what anybody else says. I probably won't even read your replies either. I'll just reply to your replies instantaneously, until at least one of us gives up.

  77. Re:The more I think of it the less silly it sounds by AftanGustur · · Score: 2

    Wow, someone has to make a video with short clips from all these prior art.

    --
    echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc
  78. Re:And yet by eyrieowl · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Or business method patents for that matter. To the extent that we allow people to patent "concepts", any prior mention of that concept should qualify as prior art, as it would make any product based on the concept a logical realization of a concept previously conceived.

  79. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This isn't a suit of Fidler v Apple. This is Samsung saying "Fidler has proven via prior art that the basis of Apple v Samsung is flawed." IANAL, but I think whatever rights Fidler may have to the iPad-like design are moot, unless Fidler wants to sue anyone. And given your point 1, he doesn't seem to care that much. This is somewhat comparable to a FOSS case. Fidler hasn't copyrighted his "look and feel", but his design exists as prior art so that nobody else can copyright that look and feel.

  80. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He's merely there to claim invalidly that prior art exists and make a failed attempt at getting Apple's Patents be declared invalid.

  81. For the Nth time, Apple licensed Xerox tech by alispguru · · Score: 3, Informative

    See here for details. Or read any real history of the time - ignore self-serving crap from Gates.

    Xerox was probably stupid to give Apple a license, and the actual researchers at PARC were livid, but they weren't the owners. Apple legally used Xerox IP. Note that Xerox did not take Apple to court over any of this,

    Microsoft, on the other hand, was concerned about legal action from Apple on this subject, even as late as Jobs' return. One of the things exchanged between Microsoft and Apple at that time was Apple dropping the windows-copying lawsuits, which were still in the courts at the time, and would have been a world of hurt for Microsoft if any of them had succeeded.

    --

    To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
    1. Re:For the Nth time, Apple licensed Xerox tech by Darinbob · · Score: 2

      Xerox did file suit.
      http://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/15/business/company-news-xerox-sues-apple-computer-over-macintosh-copyright.html
      They didn't win the suit but they did actually file it.

    2. Re:For the Nth time, Apple licensed Xerox tech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You link to reddit.com for source? WTF

      Please stop revising history and presenting your own bullshit version. Xerox did not give Apple a license. Apple were given PERMISSION to see the lab in exchange for the early option of buying Apple's shares.

      Xerox did take Apple to court: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2007/04/apple-sued-over-vague-user-interface-patent/

      "Xerox did get around to suing Apple eventually in 1989, ...."

    3. Re:For the Nth time, Apple licensed Xerox tech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple licensed xerox ip for nothing, and now they charge fortunes or just ban companies altogether from parts of 'their' IP. It's a little sickening knowing apple wouldn't help out two kids working from a garage, even though they would never of gotten as big as they are now without the giants of the time helping them.

    4. Re:For the Nth time, Apple licensed Xerox tech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So what you are saying is Apple have been a serial pest litigator since the early 90's then?

    5. Re:For the Nth time, Apple licensed Xerox tech by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      Xerox did file suit. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/15/business/company-news-xerox-sues-apple-computer-over-macintosh-copyright.html They didn't win the suit but they did actually file it.

      They filed suit because they also wanted some of the money if Apple had won against Microsoft. Which they could only get indirectly, because Windows was much closer to the Mac than to anything Xerox ever did.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  82. This would seem to validate a lot against Apple by logicassasin · · Score: 1

    In response to another article, I and several others brought up the LG KE850 (aka the LG PRada) as prior art with regards to the iPhone's design patents. The LG KE850 fits the bill for 35 U.S.C. 102(a) since it had been described in the press long before the iPhone's announcement.

    Quite a few other devices can claim prior art under this.

    --
    Fifty watts per channel, baby cakes.
    1. Re:This would seem to validate a lot against Apple by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      In response to another article, I and several others brought up the LG KE850 (aka the LG PRada) as prior art with regards to the iPhone's design patents. The LG KE850 fits the bill for 35 U.S.C. 102(a) since it had been described in the press long before the iPhone's announcement.

      Quite a few other devices can claim prior art under this.

      Errm, three weeks is hardly "long before". Not to mention that the "descriptions" were mostly guess-work. Anyway: http://www.patentgenius.com/patent/D558757.html

      Other References:

      LG KE850 Prada, announced Jan. 2007, [online], [retrieved on Feb. 20, 2007]. Retrieved from Internet ,ahref=http://www.gsmarena.com/rel=url2html-22064http://www.gsmarena.com/>. cited by examiner.

      Checked and seen as not invalidating Apple's patent application.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  83. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not everybody has to be an asshole like Apple. You know, there are companies and people how invent things and keep it open.

    I just wish the judge slams Apple once and forever so that we never ever see them suing anybody else ever. It's time to put them down good.

  84. If Apple were a car company by Ice+Station+Zebra · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We wouldn't have all these other fucking car brands here in 'Merica, but cars would cost $100K each, wouldn't have hoods and the fuel tank would slowly fill with sludge forcing you to buy a new one every few years.

    I remember in the 90's when all the apple fanboi's were OS8-9 is the greatest and my power-pc mac is so much better than your pentinum running Linux.

    I laugh everytime I see someone using any apple product, knowing that they paid too much.

    1. Re:If Apple were a car company by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And we laugh every time we see someone with an Android device, because some of us put more value on user satisfaction than some dubious ideological idiocy about "openness" (it's a fucking appliance).

      Android is better value. It's the best bang for your buck. Nobody is arguing otherwise. But it's NOT the best user experience, the evidence is undeniable.

      It's like someone with a Toyota saying "I laugh every time I see someone with a BMW, knowing they paid too much". Good for you. Nobody cares.

    2. Re:If Apple were a car company by shilly · · Score: 1

      Ironic you should mention this when auto manufacturers are avid users of design patents and trade dress to protect IP

    3. Re:If Apple were a car company by Falconhell · · Score: 1

      Frankly the user experience I am having with iphone 4S is crap. Android is just as good, no matter what the fanboys say.

    4. Re:If Apple were a car company by Ice+Station+Zebra · · Score: 1

      Yet, all cars pretty much look the same.

    5. Re:If Apple were a car company by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Good for you. Nobody cares.

      Yep, except for the fanbois who trumpet the Best User Experience now that they can't trumpet the market share.

    6. Re:If Apple were a car company by shilly · · Score: 1

      Only to the dim of mind. The rest of us are pretty capable of distinguishing a hummer from a beetle or a mini

  85. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by pakar · · Score: 1

    1. Apple is suing Samsung for patent infringement.
    2. Yes.
    3. No. But as with all patent-infringement cases the defendant has a right to defend him self by showing prior art that could invalidate the patent(s).

    So... It's all about Apple being able to show that their patents are actually valid and for Samsung to defend itself by showing that the patents that Apple has are invalid by either prior-art or that the patent is invalid by being to broad or other things like this...

    The thing with patents are that they are not really valid until they have been proven in court. So as long as it's cheaper to license than to sue they will license but when you reach this limit ($30 per phone / $40 per tablet) they will fight back...

  86. Re:Star Trek PADD as a concept would be prior art. by noh8rz7 · · Score: 1

    umm, none on ipad since it is not available... thank goodness!

  87. Re:I thought it was Sony by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 1

    Apple is suing samsung for violating their patents some of which are designs. My point is samsung isn't saying they're innocent but their excuse is that Apple did it first therefore it's ok. Which would be but they don't seem to be able to decide who they ripped off the idea from. First Sony and now some guy. It can't be both.

    Samsung's problem is that they do go out of their way to make things look like Apple stuff. Even their connectors look the same. http://cdn.mactrast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Samsung-Apple-Cable-Copy.jpg

    And even things like using Apple's icons for their shop displays. http://obamapacman.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Samsung-Mobile-Italy-store-copies-Apple-App-Store-Safari-Icons-Euronics-Centro-Sicilia.jpg

    Despite the fact their tablet does actually have a different home screen they don't often show that because it looks more like an ipad when they show off all the icons. So, I'm finding it hard to sympathise with them because they have gone above and beyond to make an ipad-like tablet. Of course that was why they were singled out.

    The whole idea that Apple sues anyone making round cornered tablets is ridiculous given that they all look like that and it's Samsung in courts over this.

  88. Licensed at gunpoint. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought Xerox had insured Apple. So when the other "branch" came crying that Apple ripped them off Xerox decided they didn't want to "sue' themselves.

    Shrewd tactic by Jobbs. Still theft but shrewd.

  89. Re:And yet by samkass · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why shouldn't a sci-fi show be able to qualify as prior art for design or UI patents?

    It can. However, in this case Apple's design patents do not cover the similarities between the PADD and an iPad. In fact Apple presented several tablets and phones in the trial which Apple said they do not feel infringes on their work which IMHO are closer to the Star Trek PADD.

    --
    E pluribus unum
  90. Re:And yet by mikael · · Score: 1

    A patent has to explain how the system works in written language, down to the individual components. Like the X-ray machine in Total Recall. With todays' technology that would have to be described as a system that incorporates a large plasma screen + multiple X-ray devices + image fusion + rendering.

    Star Trek teleporters (along with The Fly and Space Quest) would be described as a plurality of transporters, with a height high enough to accommodate one or two people each or an equivalent volume of objects, controlled by a display system operated by a humanoid. Such a system combines a memory system capable of transferring the entire energy and quantum state of those person or objects over a distance of over 1000,000 meters.

    It would have to describe how that quantum state was stored, and how the energy was transferred.

    I'm sure if they wanted to, somebody could file a patent in Klingon.

    --
    Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  91. Steve Jobs is dead by FranTaylor · · Score: 1, Redundant

    No he is not an honest human being, because he is dead.

  92. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You, a non-lawyer, would get your ass handed to you by Samsung's counsel.

    The Witness isn't claiming rights to a patent, he's giving testimony that the technology Apple is claiming a patent over was already out there and known to the public. Patent law isn't just about "I was the first one to claim the exclusive right to a technology" its about invention. If someone else can show that there is "prior art" your patent can be extinguished.

    Many of apple's patents are questionable, but this and slide-to-unlock are particularly ripe for invalidation.

    Should be enough..

  93. Re:The more I think of it the less silly it sounds by mikael · · Score: 1

    British Telecom has touchscreen systems way back in 1988. They were used for course training. Though the touch screen was actually just an add-on transparent glass pane that fitted inside the bezel of a CRT.

    --
    Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  94. Re:And yet by oPless · · Score: 1

    Or even 2001 ...

  95. Re:The more I think of it the less silly it sounds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    By that logic Star Trek also has prior art for FTL travel, teleportation, strong AI and time-travel.
    I don't like patents either, but you *can* see the problem with your reasoning, right?

  96. You mean the Newton.... by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 1

    Yeah that worked well...

  97. Re:what permission? Xerox sued Apple for idea thef by UnknowingFool · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And in 2003 SCO, under Darl McBride, sued IBM because IBM's irrevocable, perpetual license to Unix didn't mean anything to SCO. Also Novell's ownership of Unix didn't seem to bother Darl McBride. Nor did SCO's prior history as Caldera as a Linux distributor. When upper management changes, sometimes the new leadership ignores what happened in the past.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  98. Haters gonna hate. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Poor samsung. Android itself is just a weak ripoff of Apple. Now samsung is try to blame Apple just because they got caught ripping them off. Apple is the superior product and samsung is desperately trying to throw anything they can at the board and hope something sticks.

    1. Re:Haters gonna hate. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      trolls gonna troll. nevermind the truth, that obviously isn't part of your little world.

  99. Re:I thought it was Sony by cynop · · Score: 1

    But, surely, if "A" claims that "B" stole item "C" from him, and B manages to prove that "C" wasn't "A" 's to begin with, then the concept of guilt/innocence doesn't apply, right? Samsung doesn't need to plead innocent because they're disputing the ownership of the ideas.

    From what i understand, they are not trying to prove that Apple ripped the idea from someone in particular. They're trying to prove that the design ideas in question were around long before the ios devices, and as such a) Apple shouldn't have been allowed to pattent them in the first place and b) another designer could arrive to similar designed items without necessarily ripping off the iphones/ipads.

    You fail to link to a source confirming that samsung prefers not showing the home screen. My experience is different, since everytime i've seen a demo they always started from a minimalist lockscreen and then went to a widget-full homescreen. But that's subjective experience so no point in arguing. What is not subjective is that the licence fees samsung was offered was substantially higher than similar deals, in an effort to secure a two-way licensing deal for the samsung pattents that Apple infringed. I think that, and the fact that Samsung's legal team thought they had a solid case was the reason they went to court.

    Btw, your hotlinked images above don't work.

  100. Re:And yet by vux984 · · Score: 1

    A patent has to explain how the system works in written language, down to the individual components...

    Yes, yes, quite correct for a regular patent.

    But we are talking about a "design patent". They are an entirely different animal. From wikipedia "A US design patent covers the ornamental design for an object having practical utility."

  101. Re:The more I think of it the less silly it sounds by Picass0 · · Score: 1

    As pointed out elsewhere in this thread there is a difference between a design patent and a technical patent.

    IMHO design patent law too closely mimics trademark and copyright law in that it represent corporate and marketing identity more than real innovation.

  102. Moses... by flyingfsck · · Score: 1

    I think Moses was the first guy with rectangular tablets with rounded corners...

    --
    Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
  103. Re:And yet by hackula · · Score: 4, Funny

    APPLE: So...um, our patent is for.. like... a um... rectangle screen... with like... ornamental curvy...um... corners.
    USPO: GRANTED!
    APPLE: ...um....thanks.

  104. Re:The more I think of it the less silly it sounds by hackula · · Score: 1

    ...but they were also disposable. Apple's patent is for a specifically non-disposable tablet. Totally shmotealy catotally different.

  105. Re:The more I think of it the less silly it sounds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    * Data could be synced between devices

    Could Lt Cmdr Data be synced between devices?

  106. Re:The more I think of it the less silly it sounds by VortexCortex · · Score: 5, Insightful

    These are things that are more valuable than most "geeks" will ever admit to the willingness of people to buy, use, and feel good about certain products, and are therefore incredibly valuable when they're done right and worth spending a lot of money to develop a great solution.

    No. Those things are gimmicks that ONLY "geeks" notice, the general populous caring much more about what the device can ACTUALLY do whether than precisely how it does it. If you can stumble upon a patent, then it's fucking obvious. To say otherwise is to sit in your conceptually constructed tower and pontificate profusely over minutia that wrongfully drains BILLIONS of dollars from the world's economies below, only for the benefit of your own sick disconnected ilk.

    Take note: The Intangible Machine Invasion is upon us. The above poster is "one of them", and should be put down. Re-watch the Terminator series and the 1st (and only) Matrix movie -- The legal frameworks are the machines that rule mankind.

    If your bullshit design nuances are so damn important and valuable then how do you explain the success of Fashion Industry or Automotive Industry? --Neither of which have said design patent protections, and yet remain valuable and lucrative. How much do the intellectual property taxes cost us all? I put it to you that such patents necessarily cost us MUCH more than were they eradicated; They necessarily create jobs for intangible instruction code processing units -- Lawyers -- that also otherwise would not need to exist.

    You think you're a human?! NO. YOU'RE PART OF THE MACHINE!

  107. Apple's timeline by Quila · · Score: 1

    Everybody quotes 2007, but obviously that's not when Apple envisioned the specific iPhone product, which was in mid 2005. The all-out work started later that year for a 2007 public introduction. But Apple had been working on touch screen technology for several years prior to that, and Jobs had mentioned in 2002 that Apple was working on a smart phone.

  108. Troll Apple by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

    Troll Apple exposed. Reality just a little different from reality distortion, isn't it?

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  109. No new ideas... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The professor stole it from Star Trek.
    Star Trek stole it from...
    There are no new ideas, just more and more young people ignorant of existing ideas.

  110. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This must be such a tough time for you Apple fanboys.

  111. Re:And yet by slew · · Score: 1

    Next thing you know Star Trek episodes will be prior art.

    Uh, regarding the rounded-corner rectangle design patent thing, how are they not prior art? Design patents are specifically for an appearance/shape, irrespective of function or purpose.

    IANAL, but my understanding is that design patents are specifically for an appearance/shape, that do NOT have an integral function or purpose, but are merely ornamental in nature. If the design has an integral function or purpose, that function cannot be protected by a design patent, but must be covered by a utility patent to be enforceable.

  112. Re:And yet by Tough+Love · · Score: 0

    I think it's great that Android now outsells Apple 3 to 1, don't you?

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  113. Re:I thought it was Sony by Asic+Eng · · Score: 1

    [...] they don't seem to be able to decide who they ripped off the idea from. First Sony and now some guy. It can't be both.

    That doesn't really matter for Samsung. They don't need to decide whether this Professor, or Sony or anyone else came up with the idea first, they just need to convince the jury that it wasn't Apple. If the jury doesn't believe one theory they might still accept the other. Apple needs to argue against both.

    BTW: those two USB plugs in your picture look just about as dissimilar as two USB plugs can do. That's what you get for using a standard. As for the tablet side: the plug from Samsung is a lot uglier and a little more practical - the raised border should afford a better hold when unplugging.

  114. Re:The more I think of it the less silly it sounds by fredprado · · Score: 1

    No they were not. I've never seen any tablet like device being thrown away in the trash or recycled in any way in Star Trek shows.

  115. Re:WRONG by uslurper · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "No. Those things are gimmicks that ONLY "geeks" notice, the general populous caring much more about what the device can ACTUALLY do whether than precisely how it does it. If you can stumble upon a patent, then it's fucking obvious."

    ABSOLUTELY AND COMPLETELY WRONG!

    The reason Apple has been able to sell it products, even from the first apple, is that is pays close attention to HOW things work in addition to what they do. Apple was not the first to market a MP3 player or a smartphone. But they realized that in order for people (with no high-tech experience) to buy possibly complicated electronic products was to make them simple, intuitive, and enjoyable to use.

    That is what Apple has built its company on. Not just snazzy marketing and packing more GeeBees. But spending an exorbitant amount of time and research into usability.

    If someone were to design for example a door handle that easier to open and gave a better tactile feel because of a specific curve of the handle. And this handle gave a responsive 'click' when the latch was fully released. All of those subtle enhancements could be covered by a patent. You could just as easily argue that 'hey its just a door handle' and that door handles have been around for years so that patent is invalid. But that reason would invalidate all patents. 'Hey its just steel and glass and thats been around for centuries'.

    Or coming back around to tablets: 'Hey its just a handheld device that lets you store and display information' -Well thats been around since the clay tablets of 3000 BC! Again, its in the details of exactly how you do it that makes a patent.

    --
    oldhack: "Security is a waste of money until shit hits the fan. 5 minutes later, it becomes waste of money again. "
  116. Re:And yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Not to be pedantic, but pupillam should be in the genitive case, not accusative.

  117. Re:And yet by Desler · · Score: 1

    Since Apple still reaps more than 75% of all profits from global mobile sales, they probably couldn't care less about a bunch of Android OEMs who can barely scrape by with a profit. Samsung being the only real exception.

  118. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    2. Irrelevant, but yes, of course he does - however, Federer's designs date back 20 years (Microsoft's "Tablet PC" was 1999)

    20 years ago, Federer was still in his junior years and didn't have his own designs yet. They started only after he won Wimbledon.

  119. Re:And yet by geekoid · · Score: 1

    It's a lot more specific in that. In fact, I could make a tablet that fits your description and still not violated Apples design patent.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  120. It's not BS by geekoid · · Score: 1

    Who said the tools don't matter? Clearly from the statement tools do matter... in fact, only a fool would thing they wheren't discussing the modern tools for the job being discussed.

    And it IS a poor workman who blames his tools.

    If someone writes bad code, and then blames the tool i.e. editor and/or compiler, they are a poor coder.

    This applies to all trades and industries.

    Take whatever field you are in. If someone using the same tools as you does a job worse then you, is it the tool or the worker?

    Calm down, Francis; and think.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  121. black black black! by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    Sounds like the pot calling the kettle calling the stove calling the kitchen black lol. Why can't we just have any patent dispute settled with a fistfight?

    1. Re:black black black! by Compaqt · · Score: 1

      How abouts a duel?

      --
      I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
  122. YARRRgggg, I'm ded.... by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    * Data could be synced between devices

    Could Lt Cmdr Data be synced between devices?

    does "fully functional" mean that he can spawn child processes?

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  123. This all sounds familiar... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some years back I developed the 'Mac Mini Portable' which was my answer to the fact that there was no kind of either mini laptop or tablet from Apple (look it up on YouTube).
    This was a year or two even before the first iphone.
    Apple got in touch with me, and the head of the MacBook development team phoned me up for a long conversation about what I was doing...
    I wonder, can I claim prior art from BOTH Apple & Samsung?? ;-)

  124. Re:And yet by scot4875 · · Score: 2

    As a customer, none of that matters to me.

    Choice is good.

    --Jeremy

    --
    Jesus was a liberal
  125. Re:And yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you dispute the facts of his assertion?

  126. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by LodCrappo · · Score: 1

    Capacitive touch screens large enough for a tablet and at a consumer-friendly price point did not exist before. Now, they do. Technological advances drive new products. Suppose a car manufacturer comes out with the first mass market popular electric car - does this mean that this car manufacturer should have a 20 year monopoly on electric cars, free market be damned?

    This.

    What these rabid Apple disciples just can't wrap their heads around is that, as Heinlein said in The Door To Summer: "when it's time to railroad, people start railroading". Actually, that entire book is newly interesting when put in the context of today's bizarre patent situation.

    All these "before iPhone, after iPhone" comparisons used as exhibits by Apple should be torn to pieces by Samsung's attorney, because what they actually show is "before cheap mass produced capacitive touch screens" and after. That, and a few other innovations like smaller/cheaper components and higher capacity batteries are what changed the style of smartphones. Apple did not invent those elements, or they might have a leg to stand on. Apple merely packaged them just like everyone else did. Of course they know this and are obviously trying to snow the jury with misinformation. I just hope Samsung is able to make it clear enough that any reasonable people will see the truth of it.

    --
    -Lod
  127. Re:The more I think of it the less silly it sounds by PuckSR · · Score: 1

    The idea for these patents was developed with no technical expertise and in a short period of time. The development of the actual idea required hours or programming time and expertise. State-of-the-art is typically considered to be technology. Technology isn't developed in a focus group that determines that they like the "bouncey" ending the best. State-of-the-art is the brilliant programmer who makes it work, not the interesting idea.

    Unless Samsung copied Apple's code, I don't think Apple has a leg to stand on. I don't know why it isn't quoted more often, but Selden had the patent on the "automobile" until Ford pointed out that while they had a 4-wheeled vehicle, they weren't using any of Selden's engine technology to propel it. Ford had Selden's patent claims thrown out.

    Copying ideas is GOOD for everyone. Copying "technology" is bad. Samsung copied ideas, not technology.

  128. Re:WRONG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "No. Those things are gimmicks that ONLY "geeks" notice, the general populous caring much more about what the device can ACTUALLY do whether than precisely how it does it. If you can stumble upon a patent, then it's fucking obvious."

    ABSOLUTELY AND COMPLETELY WRONG!

    The reason Apple has been able to sell it products, even from the first apple, is that is pays close attention to HOW things work in addition to what they do. Apple was not the first to market a MP3 player or a smartphone. But they realized that in order for people (with no high-tech experience) to buy possibly complicated electronic products was to make them simple, intuitive, and enjoyable to use.

    That is what Apple has built its company on. Not just snazzy marketing and packing more GeeBees. But spending an exorbitant amount of time and research into usability.

    If someone were to design for example a door handle that easier to open and gave a better tactile feel because of a specific curve of the handle. And this handle gave a responsive 'click' when the latch was fully released. All of those subtle enhancements could be covered by a patent. You could just as easily argue that 'hey its just a door handle' and that door handles have been around for years so that patent is invalid. But that reason would invalidate all patents. 'Hey its just steel and glass and thats been around for centuries'.

    Or coming back around to tablets: 'Hey its just a handheld device that lets you store and display information' -Well thats been around since the clay tablets of 3000 BC! Again, its in the details of exactly how you do it that makes a patent.

    I applaud to your efforts educate the locals on the purpose of patents, unfortunately explaining patents to /. posters is like trying to explain evolution to born again Christians so odds are that you are wasting your time.

  129. who stole from who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ahem..... where no one has gone before?

    http://iwantsomefun.com/ipad-padd-surface-gates-jobs-picard/

  130. Apple blocked Fidler from testifying in person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here's something interesting if you've read the Bloomberg article. The reason the prof couldn't testify in person was because Apple BLOCKED it!

    "In a session without the jury present, Samsung lawyer Charles Verhoeven, defending the company’s attempt to show the testimony, told U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh it was central to the company’s case and that Apple had successfully blocked Fidler from testifying in person. He didn’t explain how or why. The jury didn’t see any videotape recording of Apple’s lawyers questioning Fidler."

  131. Re:And yet by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

    I think it's entirely ok if Apple keeps raping the bank accounts of its idiot fans so long as it isn't anyone I know.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  132. rounded corners are just safer, not prettier. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    if i smashed you in the head with a sharp corner, i could do more damage then if i smashed u in the head with a rounded corner

  133. Re:Apple stole iPhone idea from 2005 slashdot comm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i predicted it back in 2002, in high school when the pocket pc's were out.

  134. Hm. Don't Christians use that line? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Haters" is one of many defensive labels used by the authoritarian head-space in lieu of objective reality perception. Apple users identify with the product, and so any attack on the product they perceive as an attack on their ego. This leads immediately to emotional reasoning which by-passes the neo-cortex. Strictly primal lizard brain stuff.

    Which is why they see rational objections as carrying emotional quotients, hence their use of the word, "Hate". I don't know too many people who actually hate Apple products. But Apple cultists do in fact love their products, in so far as an authoritarian is able to love anything. It's more about idolizing their own ego than anything else.

    "Believers gonna Believe"

  135. ideas are not valuable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If someone has a great idea but does nothing with it, there is no value. If idea guy show it to someone who uses the idea to create a product people are willing to pay for, then the "product guy" deserves their success and owes "idea guy" little if anything. The value is in the execution of the idea.

  136. Re:And yet by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

    somehow he didn't sell several billion dollars worth of his tablets...

    Next thing you know Star Trek episodes will be prior art.

    Well, he never had anything but design concepts envisioning how others would build tablets in the near future. Like, ermm maybe IBM, who got a design patent in March 1994 for a Pen-based computer (which Apple references in its D504889 iPad design patent).

    --
    Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  137. Re:And yet by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

    Why shouldn't a sci-fi show be able to qualify as prior art for design or UI patents?

    Because PADDs didn't actually look like an iPad (most had all kinds of buttons)? Just like the device in 2001 didn't look like one, nor in fact the designs this guy presents?

    And that's ignoring that they were non-working props (including the stuff of this guy)?

    --
    Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  138. Re:The more I think of it the less silly it sounds by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

    The PADD devices seen on The Next Generation, DS9, and Voyager all did things that are major selling points for the iPad and iPhones.

    * Touchscreen device * Played video and sound * dynamic user interface could be customized to serve the application * Video conferencing * Loaded and saved information to the remote storage (In this case the a ship or Starfleet computers would be "the cloud") * Data could be synced between devices * Device could be re-configured to remotely control a workstation (remote desktop) * They even have rounded corners * Devices could be encrypted

    All of those functions are demonstrated or spoken of in episodes or described in Mike Okuda's ST:TNG Technical Manual (Okuda was the lead designer on most of the newer television Star Treks)

    All of this predated any patent filings by Apple.

    So which of those does Apple claim to have invented? And which of the many PADDs looked like any of Apple's design patents for that matter?

    --
    Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  139. Re:The more I think of it the less silly it sounds by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

    These are things that are more valuable than most "geeks" will ever admit to the willingness of people to buy, use, and feel good about certain products, and are therefore incredibly valuable when they're done right and worth spending a lot of money to develop a great solution.

    No. Those things are gimmicks that ONLY "geeks" notice, the general populous caring much more about what the device can ACTUALLY do whether than precisely how it does it.

    At leasts that's what people calling themselves "geeks" proclaim, who for the hell of it can't figure out why people buy Apple products, despite their constant predictions that they wouldn't.

    --
    Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  140. Re:And yet by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

    Next thing you know Star Trek episodes will be prior art.

    Uh, regarding the rounded-corner rectangle design patent thing, how are they not prior art? Design patents are specifically for an appearance/shape, irrespective of function or purpose.

    How can people claim this is prior art for the iPad, but these look nothing alike?

    --
    Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  141. Wow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, since Android "copied" the iPhone and iPad, so they stole from the Missouri professor too. Really???

  142. Great artists steal! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0DUg63lqU

  143. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'd consider my trusty old Palm Pilot just a slightly smaller 'tablet'. Stylus vs. finger interaction is a minor detail. Just because 'tablet' is a different word from 'PDA' does not mean they actually -are- fundamentally different. So Apple wasn't the first company to make something tablet-like, that people actually wanted to use.

  144. Tablets were here way before Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Remember Star Trek in the 1960s?

  145. Re:And yet by stoatwblr · · Score: 1
    Well for starters, that latter image isn't exactly what it appears to be at first glance.

    The Samsung tablet has a widescreen aspect, while the Apple tablet is 4:3 - they've been photoshopped to make their dimensions seem the same.

  146. Origin of Apple Icon design by rangleme · · Score: 1

    For folks wondering what inspired the iOS icon design... please refer to the original Atari 400 membrane keyboard. The highlight on the top-left is supposed to mimic the bumpy membrane of those old keyboards. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Atari_400_keyboard.jpg You will also notice the radius of the rounded corners and the outline match current iOS specifications.

    --
    Do Good, Annoy Evil!
  147. The Bill Gates Defense by gig · · Score: 1

    Bill Gates was able to steal all he wanted from Apple because yada-yada Xerox PARC. As long as there was something kind of like it in a lab 10 years ago — COPY AWAY!

  148. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by metaforest · · Score: 1

    All of those earlier devices were resistive touch, and could not support multi-touch gestures. It is an inherent limitation of resistive touch systems. When you touch a resistive panel in multiple points you get very ambiguous values that cannot be resolved without a completely different approach. Capacitive touch addressed that by resolving the contact patches of the fingers as bitmap regions on the touch sensing array that can be followed using some basic object tracking methods. There are a lot of similarities with object tracking in video, which use more generalized forms of the tracking methods.

    The device demonstrated in the video and many examples of similar devices have (or had) distinct raised bezels much like is typical on any other display device. Notice that the inner edge of the bezel is raised quite a bit above the plane of the touch surface. There are enough differences between that earlier design and Apple's to cast doubt in my mind that Samsung can get any traction with it as prior art.

    Only slightly related to this:
    I worked as a contractor for Apple in the late 80's. I saw some very early drawings and a couple of crude prototypes of a touch device called 'knowledge navigator'. Bill Atkinson and others were brainstorming on ways to get a HyperCard-like interface onto a tablet. Some of the early notions of gesture based interfaces were being worked on at the time using HyperCard as a rapid prototyping environment.

    Later (94-96) as a contractor for Microsoft I saw some similar concepts being worked out using WinCE.

    Until capacitive touch expanded the depth of the input interface it was all very clunky variations of stylus as mouse-pointer over a LCD panel. All of those devices had display bezels. Most had square corners. Few could even process a finger touch accurately-- the stylus was mandatory, unless you happened to have a nice set of claws glued to your cuticles.

  149. and don't forget by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    apple stole the GUI and mouse from Xeroxes labs way back when

  150. Re:And yet by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

    Well for starters, that latter image isn't exactly what it appears to be at first glance.

    The Samsung tablet has a widescreen aspect, while the Apple tablet is 4:3 - they've been photoshopped to make their dimensions seem the same.

    That is the difference between functional and ornamental - the changes to the design are purely functional and don't change the copying of the ornamental design.

    Which is exactly what a German court has already decided.

    PS: your sidestepping the issue of PADDs has been noted.

    --
    Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  151. Re:And yet by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

    PPS: the German court of course had access to the hardware, so "it was photoshopped" is also no excuse.

    --
    Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  152. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Compaqt · · Score: 1

    All that Apple did was use decade-old design in a product that was just becoming viable at the because of a drop in touchscreen prices. And has been shown repeatedly, it wasn't the first.

    --
    I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
  153. Re:Slam dunk for Apple against Prof. Fidler by Compaqt · · Score: 1

    Regarding payment, I hope he gets compensated well. He deserves it.

    He is much more of a visionary in relation to tablets than Steve Jobs, who did nothing more than take a very old design and simply sell it when touchscreen prices dropped.

    --
    I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
  154. Re:And yet by Compaqt · · Score: 1

    Slashdotters are supporting Samsung because, in this case, they're standing against a ridiculous use of patents.

    In the same way, many/most Slashdotters distrust M$, but they supported them in the Micrsoft/Apple case.

    --
    I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
  155. Re:And yet by Compaqt · · Score: 1

    Sorry, but where is the design patent more specific than that.

    In fact, that just about as specific as it is. To wit, here's the entire text of the patent:

    "We claim the ornamental design for an electronic device, substantially as shown and described."

    The guy above just translated this sentence in a funny way.

    The only other thing in the patent is some line drawings.

    Nowhere is it mentioned (nor was it granted) that Apple owns round corners.

    --
    I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog