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| A visual guide to Apple's IP claims |
| By Thom Holwerda, submitted by henderson101 on 2012-08-07 12:24:38 |
| "Comparing Samsung's flagship products before and after release of the iPhone & iPad, and how Apple's intellectual property infringement claims hold up." A terrible visual guide that ignores not only Samsung's own pre-iPhone designs, but also - and worse yet - the thirty-odd years of mobile computing that preceded the iPhone. Typical of today's technology world: a complete and utter lack of historical sense. Worse yet are the claims about icons: only the phone icon is similar, but Apple did not invent the green phone icon. This is a remnant of virtually all earlier phones which use a green phone icon for initiate/answer call, and a red phone icon for terminate/reject call. Claiming this deserves IP protection is beyond ridiculous, and shows just how low Apple is willing to go. |
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| RE: Terrible? |
| By Soulbender on 2012-08-07 13:43:03 |
|
> If you don't care (pretty much me) and believe people are being blinkered and reporting from an skewed angle on *both* sides, or if you believe Apple, well, it's pretty damning. Hmm..not really. Sure the Galaxy is is not unlike the iPhone but on the other hand it's not unlike the F700 either. It's pretty much just a slimmer and glossier version of the F700. Heck, you could argue that the iPhone is just a slimmer and glossier version of the F700. With the exception of the green phone icon (and I have seen that phone image on phone booths since I was a child) the icons are not similar at all, not even in style. The only part that is perhaps a bit too similar is the packaging. Ok, not perhaps, it's very similar. Edited 2012-08-07 13:48 UTC |
 - Score: 2 |
| RE[2]: Stop the judging, that's what courts are for. |
| By siraf72 on 2012-08-07 13:43:36 |
|
I think the doomsday scenario you're painting is blown out of proportion. These kinds of court cases do little to stifle the competition or effect innovation in the industry. This is more akin to Apple Vs MS regarding Windows. That had little effect on everyone else. What DID have an impact was MS destroying companies by abusing it's monopoly position and using it's financial clout to destroy newcomers. I think you're painting this court case to be something it's not. This isn't about how ridiculous software patents are (unbelievably ridiculous by my view), or some behemoth taking on the poor helpless new innovator. It's just one mega huge company accusing another mega huge company of copying it's product. Could and does happen in every industry. - Edit - NB: I also think you're overestimating the chances of Apple's success. Edited 2012-08-07 13:51 UTC |
| - Score: 1 |
| OK |
| By vasko_dinkov on 2012-08-07 13:55:56 |
| OK, it's obvious Apple's designs (hardware/UI/packaging) "inspired" a pretty major shift in Samsung's designs and I suppose anyone in his right mind should be able to notice and confess this. Although it's a completely different story if these kinds of stuff should be "patentable" or not.. |
| - Score: 1 |
| RE[2]: Terrible? |
| By henderson101 on 2012-08-07 14:07:35 |
|
It was unnecessary. If you don't agree with the content, fine, don't publish it. From where I'm sitting, it just proves that you're becoming fixated on proving one side is right and one side is wrong, when they're both as bad as each other, both rip off anyone that they can and pretty much fight dirty. Again - I'm not on either side. But either report fairly, employ a volunteer to report on the Apple side of things objectively or stop making any kind of comment on the stories, and let the reader make their own mind up. Because, as you say, we're all *meant* to be adults here, right? |
| - Score: -1 |
| I actually like your bias |
| By leonalpha on 2012-08-07 14:12:28 |
|
Thom I actually enjoy your bias, and the main reason I do is that I started reading Daring Fireball before OSNews. Boy, the lengths to which that idiot John Gruber goes to twists facts and cherry-pick fragments from all over the place in an attempt to make Apple look good while ridiculing all of its competitors is annoying beyond belief. So I developed a hatred for Apple. A hatred I honestly don't know how to get rid of. And, of course, a hatred for Daring Fireball as well. If Apple were to go bankrupt tomorrow and Daring Fireball's servers were to be wiped out, along with all backups, I would be a happy man hehe. The point though, is that since Apple happens to build great products, with extreme attention to detail, visually appealing, remarkably engineered, etc, etc, it just seems that they'll never go bankrupt and one-sided sites like DF will just have lots and lots to brag about. And Gruber's snark isn't going away any time soon. And the iIdiot clan will just keep getting larger and larger. Frustrating, I know :-) So I think that's what's happening with you. It seems you can't wait for Apple to do something slightly bad, or for a competitor to do something slightly good for you to go all-out against Apple or all-out in favor of the competitor. And I get that, so I like this site for that. Your posts are better than, say, Gruber's in many ways. You research your stuff before you post. You seem to look at all the alternatives. Gruber on the other hand doesn't double check anything if it has something bad to say about Apple. But boy, have you become biased, man! And it shows. And while I like it because of my hatred of DF and Apple, I think regulars and newcomers alike will who are unaffected by sites like DF and by the extreme level of stupidity which seems intrinsic to all/most iIdiots will be kinda put off. So, for the sake of good journalism, I believe so you should maybe, just maybe, step back the Apple hatred a bit and just keep doing what you do best: Write great OSNews articles. I think it'll be better in the long run :-) p.s. I'm at work and had no time to proof-read this so be warned :P |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE[3]: Stop the judging, that's what courts are for. |
| By CapEnt on 2012-08-07 14:16:27 |
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It has little effect on these very large business that you usually see fighting each other. But it can be devastating for a small, really innovative, startup. If these stupid IP claims on top of very trivial stuff, like rectangles and icons, began to be held in courts, you will end up with a scenario that will be impossible for you to actually open a tech company at all in USA (and to a lesser extent, Europe). |
| - Score: 8 |
| adults ? |
| By Janvl on 2012-08-07 14:21:02 |
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Do not even have adults a right to an opinion? Like it is my opinion that Apple is a compagny that mutated into a patenttroll where I will never ever buy anything? Thom has a right to give his opinion, like you have too. I just hope that this judge will tell both Apple and Samsung to stop this silly childish behaviour and compete on quality rather then playing the one that is shocked and all this other theater. Apple never designed anything by itself, there was always "prior art". Apple knows (or knew?) about marketing, that is what they are good at. |
| - Score: 5 |
| RE[3]: Terrible? |
| By Thom_Holwerda on 2012-08-07 14:31:00 |
|
And by "objectively" you mean "in favour of Apple", right? More importantly - why should Apple get special treatment on OSNews? If I rag on Google or Microsoft - not a peep from you. But for Apple, I should get someone else to do it? You accuse me of being biased - which I am, I hate companies abusing software patents to stifle competition - while clearly being biased yourself. Kind of funny, in a way. |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE[2]: Stop the judging, that's what courts are for. |
| By falcon_dark on 2012-08-07 14:41:58 |
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Thom, I see your bias against Apple but I don't care. It's your site and your articles, so you can pretty much write what you want. Just take care because Apple isn't claiming the invention of the green phone icon. Why this whole thing is against Samsung alone? Have you ever ask yourself why not Motorola, or Google itself? There's more than a stupid fight under this trial and you should be digging on this instead of writing poor jokes about it. Just my opinion. I see Samsung copying Apple here. I mean, Apple didn't invent all this stuff but it did put it all together on a product. Samsung copy this: putting it all together. The USA patent system is fucked up indeed. It shouldn't allow a company to prosecute another because of putting things together. But it does. That's the real problem. This tight patent mechanism is anti-innovation and will kill competition. This should stop and OS News should be raising this flag instead of anti-Apple fanboyism... Apple is right because it's using the patent system to protect it's products. Samsung is right because it's just competing giving buyers what they want: a useful alternative to iPhone. The laws in the middle are wrong but nobody seems to be aware of this. |
| - Score: 1 |
| RE[4]: Terrible? |
| By henderson101 on 2012-08-07 14:58:15 |
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> And by "objectively" you mean "in favour of Apple", right? No, I mean don't state your own opinion as being fact. Objectivity and a neutral stand point is the cornerstone of good journalism. You don't have to like what you're publishing, nor agree with it. Rather than trashing every Apple story and treating Samsung like they are the second coming of Jesus, why not say nothing and write an opinion piece once a week rounding up the evidence and as a conclusion, give your own opinion. That way the reporting is balanced. > More importantly - why should Apple get special treatment on OSNews? Why should anyone get special treatment? Why should anyone be treated in any way but fairly? Why should anything be twisted in to a case against anyone else? These questions are what I ask myself when I read your extremist views. If you don't allow racism or sexism here, why do you tolerate and encourage other forms of hate? > If I rag on Google or Microsoft - not a peep from you. But for Apple, I should get someone else to do it? Untrue. Go back and look at any article that mentions Microsoft.Net, Silverlight or Mono. You'll find me shouting about how great that tech is. I support what I like, but I don't let that rule my life, nor do I go out of my way to be hateful to anyone, no matter what their story is. God, I even like you Thom, despite your foibles. Your problem is - I state anything positive in this thread about Apple I'm a fanboy. What am I supposed to do with that? Really? > You accuse me of being biased - which I am, I hate companies abusing software patents to stifle competition - while clearly being biased yourself. Kind of funny, in a way. How? To paraphrase myself, which part of "be fair to all parties, but seriously, I don't care either way and think they both garbage" wasn't clear? We're not talking about Apple vs Samsung here any more. We're talking about real journalism vs gutter press ambulance chasing. Yeah? Please take a break and write something less irrational. Honestly, as a journalist - when you're good, you're good. When it descends in to Thom vs the World (tm) it's pretty boring for the people on the fringes that just want to read something, anything, with an ounce of integrity. |
| - Score: 2 |
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