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Wozniak On the Samsung Patent Verdict

dgharmon writes "'I hate it,' Wozniak told Bloomberg in Shanghai today, referring to the patent battle. He thinks the ruling will be overruled. Samsung will of course appeal, and this case will go back and forth for months still, but Wozniak just wishes everyone could get along. 'I don’t think the decision of California will hold. And I don’t agree with it — very small things I don’t really call that innovative. I wish everybody would just agree to exchange all the patents and everybody can build the best forms they want to use everybody’s technologies,' he said."

12 of 328 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Please. by bobthesungeek76036 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Amen!!!

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  2. Re:Nope, Apple did not start it by fm6 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If it were just Samsung getting a little sloppy about Apple's design patents, you'd have a point. But the motivation for this war is the belief that Android itself is one big ripoff of iOS and needs to die. If Apple is allowed to claim ownership of the dominant user interaction paradigm, they will end up being the sole owner of the smart phone marketplace.

    You say there are alternatives? These are a few small time platforms that manage to stay outside Apple's claimed IP They will always be too nonstandard to attract significant user or developer mindshare.

  3. Re:Nope, Apple did not start it by symbolset · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "If you wish to make apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." - Carl Sagan

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  4. Who you know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I knew Woz about 25-30 years ago when I worked as a systems engineering consultant in the Silicon Valley. He always impressed me as an engineer who was more focused on creating wild and new stuff, vs. Jobs who wanted to rule the world... :-) Well, Jobs ruled the world for awhile, but the Woz is still kicking ass and taking names!

  5. Two Extremes, One Partnership by fm6 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One Steve made a name for himself by opening up computers. His idea that a desktop computer should be a big open platform that anybody can plug into dominates computer design to this very day, and had a lot to do with the explosive growth of computing.

    The other Steve wanted to close up smartphones. Come to think of it, he took a control-freak attitude toward every product he ever launched. Ironic, really.

  6. Re:"Decision of California"? by symbolset · · Score: 5, Interesting

    All of the jurors though were all from California near the courthouse - which happens to be just down the road from Apple HQ.

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  7. Re:Nope, Apple did not start it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If they were "exact copies" why are verdicts from all over the world centered on software patents like slide to unlock and multitouch gestures, not design patents? Why's Apple suing Samsung for Galaxy SIII when it was widely claimed to be "phone designed by lawyers" as to avoid infringements?

    Sorry, but "Apple only has a bone with Samsung because they make exact copies" don't really work, considering those verdicts, SIII lawsuit and preceding lawsuits with other major Android manufacturers.

  8. The Woz by BluPhenix316 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I love Steve Woz. He is a really cool guy and is really the original brains behind Apple. Apple may have skyrocketed into fame because of Steve Jobs' marketing but its Woz that made Apple who they are today. The man is a old fashioned hacker, which is something that is missing from today's computer hardware and software companies. The computer enthusiasts have been replaced by the greedy business men in the computer world and its really sad.

  9. Wish the Woz was the CEO by ebinrock · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Woz is so cool. If only he were Apple's CEO, we wouldn't be having all these lawsuits, and we'd probably have some REAL innovation from Apple (not catching up to making a 4" screen and including LTE). C'mon, smartphone makers, where's that long-lasting battery power (perhaps with a solar panel on the back to boot)? Where's that built-in holographic projector (a la R2-D2)? Think how useful that would be in the corporate world! (Not to mention gaming!)

  10. Re:He also added... by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Whoa, wait there, camper! What exactly is it that Google is doing that is so high and mighty? Selling your soul to advertisers? At least when you use Apple products you are the customer. When you use Google services, you are the product.

  11. Re:Nope, Apple did not start it by dudpixel · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So what if Samsung copied. Yes, if they did, it would be illegal, but that just means they should suffer a reasonable penalty.

    Do you really think the amount Samsung had to pay Apple was reasonable?

    First you have to prove that Samsung's copying of Apple products benefited Samsung. Sure you can point to Samsung's sales, but if you interview people who bought their products, none would tell you it was because of the iphone similarity.

    I bought my galaxy S DESPITE the similarity, not because of it. I was happy enough with the phone that I was prepared to suffer the embarrassment of owning a phone that looked like an iphone (but clearly bigger).

    Do you really think all those samsung phone owners were happy every time someone asked "is that an iphone?".

    Personally I don't know and don't care if Samsung copied Apple. In my view there is no way that is worth 1 billion dollars. That is basically saying that Samsung contributed nothing to their own phone, or that people only bought it because of (Apple's) design. It isn't just wrong, it is ridiculous.

    Do you think Apple is being honest about all this?
    They are trying to include the Galaxy S3 now - a phone that looks nothing like any iphone ever made. And yet they are trying to make similar 'copying' claims about it.

    IMO the original galaxy S1 and maybe the galaxy tab 10.1 are the only devices Apple actually has any shred of a valid claim against. But they are clearly not suing samsung for the reasons they state.

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  12. Re:Nope, Apple did not start it by cplusplus · · Score: 5, Interesting
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