Isn't everyone copying everyone in the industry. ITs the nature of doing business in the smartphone product line. I wonder if the origin of Samsung played a role in the judgement. Korea vs USA.
Patents are important to allow the inventor or designer to recoup their development costs. If there weren't patents, it'd just be a battle of production efficiency, which would absolutely kill smaller companies. Most of the damages awarded were for design patents. Design patents cover the "looks" of the device. It's like a Toyota looking like a BMW. It's very justified. The contentious part of design patents is how trivial the details they protect. It doesn't have to be the entirety of the device but just certain features like the rounded rectangles on the GUI, being the most popular example, or the bezel - the latter Samsung contended to be unavoidable in making a modern touch-based phone. Keep your hysteria in check guys. Exercise the same degree of diligence in checking the facts as if you were in the same spot.
Apple wants to ban the sale of Galaxy S2 variants and couple of other outdated phones. They aren't going after the Galaxy S3 and the upcoming version of the Galaxy Note. http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-wants-to-ban-sales-of-8-samsung-devices-2012-8
You're right. The legal fiction of intellectual property is necessary to reward risk takers for taking on the jobs they do. Looking at trial docs, it is amazing how much time and effort Apple puts into their products. The prototypes, the testing, the way they work with manufacturers -- it is all very large investment of resources to both come up with new ideas and refine already existing ones. Any maker's interests should be protected against someone just straight up cloning their work, especially after years of design and testing to get it "just right." With respect to the triviality of some of the design patents, how does one patent a design? Is it just a single aspect of a total design, a certain % of the design, or just the total design that is protectable? Rectangular phone and rounded corners should be un-protectable, imo. But the expression/combination of those features as an iPhone should be. I think Samsung was cool until they crossed the line with the June 2010 release. It can't get much more blatant than that. And that is before combining it with the obviously cloning Android interface. One great thing for consumers, if this holds up, will be an increased variety ideas pushed to market, instead of every device maker cloning the latest market leader/innovator. I'd rather a diverse ecosystem of devices with competing designs instead of iPhones and iKnockoffs (or Blackberries and KnockoffBerries). Now I am rooting for MS to hit a home run with Metro... Windows Phone and Surface.
I agree with the last few posts. If you really want to see why this was done you have to look on a smaller level. If they allowed Samsung to get away with this, then what is left to defend the small guys and inventors that come up with something. These Patents and laws were put in place to protect someone who comes up with something. If some small inventor comes up with a super invention or design he needs to protect himself because for sure someone will try to steal it eventually. The only reason there is so much uproar in my opinion is because of the two parties in the suit. They are big corporations and the arguments are going to be different. But the core of it is the same. They have to protect whoever has the patents at the end of the day. If i cam up with something I sure has hell would want the government to have my back if someone steals it and makes millions.
Apple should stop whining and should concentrate on building good products. Just look at this - should Braun sue Apple now?!
Not so fast... Apple is now going after S3 and Note. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57504756-37/apple-goes-after-galaxy-s3-note-in-new-court-filing/ I am sure it is just a coincidence, but also in the news, S3 surpassed iPhone 4s as the top-selling smartphone in the US. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57505552-37/upset-iphone-4s-surrenders-u.s-crown-to-galaxy-s3/
