As Matt scribbled yesterday, The High Court of England & Wales has ruled that the various Samsung Galaxy Tabs are ultimately ‘different’ from Apple’s iPads, and will remain on sale in the UK.
There are all sorts of juicy quotes and that, including a tear-filled statement from Team Cupertino.
Apple claimed that the Samsung Galaxy Tabs borrow heavily in design from the iPad, to the extent of blatantly copying it.
You'll remember that Apple invented the tablet concept with the iPad in 2010 (ahem), and it reckons its device is unique in having:
- 'slightly rounded corners'
- 'a flat transparent surface without any ornamentation'
- 'a thin profile'
However, the High Court referred to “approximately 50 examples of prior art” with those features, including 1994’s Knight Rider. Amazing.
Samsung was predictably happy about the ruling, and suggested: “Apple’s excessive legal claims based on such a generic design right can harm not only the industry’s innovation as a whole, but also unduly limit consumer choice."
Meanwhile, Apple reiterated: "It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging. This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we've said many times before, we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas."
On the whole, the ruling seems incredibly… sensible? Judge Lucy Koh could certainly learn a thing or two.
via: Pocket-lint
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